INDIANAPOLIS—The first case of a dangerous complication of COVID-19 that targets children have now been found in Indiana.
Dr. Kristina Box, the state health commissioner, broke the news of the state’s first confirmed case of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome — also known as MIS-C — Monday at Gov. Eric Holcomb’s virtual press briefing. She did not release the age of the child nor which part of the state the child resides in order to protect patient privacy.
Dr. Kristina Box, commissioner of the Department of Health, at Gov. Eric Holcomb’s virtual press briefing Monday.
“This is a very serious condition,†Box said. “Patients under the age of 21 present with fever, laboratory evidence of inflammation, and evidence of clinically severe illness involving multiple organ systems that require hospitalizations.â€
“These cases have no alternative plausible diagnosis†than SARS-COV-2, Box said, using the label for the virus that causes COVID-19. Patients, she said, test positive for the virus or have antibody evidence that their bodies are fighting it.
As of Sunday, at least 220 possible and confirmed cases in 20 states and the District of Columbia had been identified. There are more than 150 cases in New York, where three children have died.
“This is something we are starting to see around the world,†Box said. “…We’ve asked hospitals to report suspected cases to us as we can investigate and learn more about COVID-19 and how that may be impacting our younger people.â€
Parents need to be alert for persistent fever in their children and, she said, should contact their pediatrician if the child appears seriously ill.
Along with the first case of the condition, the state reported 492 new cases of COVID-19 with 28,255 cases statewide. An additional 14 deaths were reported, bringing the state’s total to 1,621, with another 144 deaths believed to have been caused by the virus.
As the virus continues to take a toll on the state, the Department of Child Services said they are working to keep their workers and the community safe from COVID-19 while still working on cases to keep Hoosier children safe.
DCS Director Terry Stigdon said the department has switched to working remotely except when investigating an abuse or neglect claims.
Terry Stigdon of the Department of Child Services provided an update on her agency’s work at Gov. Eric Holcomb’s daily press briefing.
“While there has been much focus on ways we can work remotely, it is important to note when a child’s wellbeing is in question, a family case manager visits that child in-person to ensure they are safe,†she said.
The department is now conducting family visits virtually, limiting visits to DCS offices to appointment only and providing personal protective equipment to workers whose work cannot be done remotely.
In other COVID-19-related developments, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Peter Lacy said the state is increasing the number of open branches and the available appointments.
Lacy said the BMV has expanded its appointment capacity by 50% at 59 locations. This will add an additional 13,000 appointments weekly to the nearly 142,000 weekly appointments already occurring at the 128 open branches, he said.
But, he added, in-person appointments should only be used for transactions not available online or over the phone. Lacy said Hoosiers can go to MyBMV.com, in.gov/bmv, or call 888-692-6841 for other transactions.
Victoria Ratliff is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
Quality of Life: Indiana County Fairs & Fall Festival
Purdue Extension announced that Indiana 4-H fairs can occur after June 30 with restrictions.
From the Purdue University News Service:
“County 4-H fairs may begin on July 4, if local health officials confirm the county has reached stage five in Indiana Back on Track plan. Fairs must adhere to social distancing guidelines, screen employees and volunteers working on behalf of Purdue Extension daily, and follow industry best practices regarding disinfecting high traffic areas and offering hand sanitizer and cleaning stations to employees and guests.”
A decision for this year’s Vanderburgh County fair has not been released.
Business Assistance: Permit Process to Expand Outdoor Restaurant Seating Announced
After listening to feedback from restaurant operators, neighborhood leaders, and residents, local government leaders announced an expedited permit process that enables restaurants to temporarily expand their dining areas.
The Evansville Restaurant Relief Program will enable restaurant operators to expand their outdoor dining areas onto the existing property and public rights-of-way.
“Immune to Evidenceâ€: How Dangerous Coronavirus Conspiracies Spread
Conspiratorial videos and websites about COVID-19 are going viral. Here’s how one of the authors of “The Conspiracy Theory Handbook†says you can fight back. One big takeaway: Focus your efforts on people who can hear evidence and think rationally.
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Stephan Lewandowsky studies the way people think, and in particular, why they engage in conspiracy theories. So when the cognitive scientist from England’s University of Bristol observes wild speculation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, he sees how it fits into the historical pattern of misinformation and fake news.
I recently wrote about the viral video “Pandemic†as an investigative reporter assessing the range of unsubstantiated COVID-19 allegations put forth by a controversial researcher. Lewandowsky comes at the video and others like it from a science-based perspective. He is one of the authors of “The Conspiracy Theory Handbook,†which explains the traits of conspiratorial thinking.
Conspiracy theories related to the COVID-19 pandemic seem to be proliferating, and some may even be taking root. So I asked Lewandowsky to share how he identifies and understands them, and what we can do to sort through the confusion. The interview has been condensed for clarity and length.
What’s the difference between a real conspiracy and a conspiracy theory?
A real conspiracy actually exists, and it is usually uncovered by journalists, whistleblowers, document dumps from a corporation, or government, or it’s discovered by a government agency. The Volkswagen emissions scandal, for example, was discovered in conventional ways when some engineers discovered an anomaly in a report. It was all mundane — normal people having normal observations based on data. They said, “Hang on, something’s funny here,†and then it unraveled. The same is true for the Iran-contra scandal. That broke via a newspaper in Lebanon. True conspiracies are often uncovered through the media. In Watergate, it was journalists not taking “no†for an answer.
A conspiracy theory, on the other hand, is discussed at length on the internet by people who are not bona fide journalists or government officials or whistleblowers in an organization or investigative committees of regulators. They’re completely independent sources, individuals who self-nominate and put themselves forward as being in possession of the truth. In principle, that could be true. But then if you look at the way these people think and talk and communicate, you discover their cognition is different from what I would call conventional cognition.
What are some differences between conventional and conspiratorial thinking?
You can start with healthy skepticism vs. overriding suspicion. As a scientist, I’m obviously skeptical. I’m questioning anything people say. I look at my own data and other people’s data with a skeptical eye. But after skeptics have been skeptical, they are quite capable of accepting evidence. Once something has withstood scrutiny, you accept it. Otherwise, you’re in a state of complete nihilism and you can’t believe anything.
That crucial second step of acceptance is absent in conspiracy theorists. That is where conspiracy theorists are different. Their skepticism is a bottomless, never-ending pit of skepticism about anything related to the official account. And that skepticism is accompanied by extreme gullibility to anything related to the conspiracy. It’s an imbalance between skepticism for anything an official may say and complete gullibility for something some random dude on the internet will tweet out. It’s that imbalance that differentiates conspiracy thinking from standard cognition.
Conspiracy thinking is immune to evidence. In the “Pandemic†video, the absence of evidence is twisted to be seen to be as evidence for the theory. They say the cover-up is so perfect that you will never find out about it. That’s the opposite of rational thinking. Usually, when you think of a hypothesis, you think of the evidence. And if there’s zero evidence, you give it up or say there is no evidence for it.
Conspiracy theorists may also simultaneously believe things that are contradictory. In the “Pandemic†video, for example, they say COVID-19 both came from a Wuhan lab and that we’re all infected with the disease from vaccinations. They’re making both claims, and they don’t hang together.
More generally, conspiracy theorists show this contradictory thinking by presenting themselves as both victims and heroes. They see themselves as these heroes in possession of the truth. But they also see themselves as victims. They feel they are being persecuted by this evil establishment or the deep state or whatever it is.
Why do you think some conspiracy theories are so popular?
Some people find comfort in resorting to a conspiracy theory whenever they have a sense of a loss of control or they’re confronted with a major adverse event that no one has control over. So every time there’s a mass shooting in the U.S., I can guarantee you ahead of time that there will be a conspiracy theory about it.
So you would expect conspiracy theories related to the pandemic. That doesn’t make them any less harmful. Here in the United Kingdom, people are burning 5G cell towers because of this extreme idea that 5G has something to do with causing COVID-19. More than 70 cell towers have gone up in flames because of this conspiracy theory.
Is conspiracy thinking of an all-time high?
Historical records show that there were rampant conspiracy theories going on in the Middle Ages when the plague hit Europe. It was anti-Semitism at the time. That tends to be part and parcel of pandemics. People engage in conspiracies that involve some sort of “othering†of people. During previous pandemics, people chased doctors down the street because they thought they were responsible for the pandemic. In Europe, now a lot of antagonisms is directed at Asians because the pandemic started in China. The internet is helping the spread of conspiracy theories. It’s much easier now than it was 30 years ago. But it’s difficult to say we have more now.
Are conservatives or liberals any more likely to engage in conspiracy thinking?
There is a lot of research on this and political conspiracy theories tend to be most associated with extreme political views, on the right or the left. But if you quantify it, you frequently find more on the right than the left.
How do we talk to the conspiracy theorists in our lives?
How do we prevent the spread of conspiracy theories?
By trying to inoculate the public against them. Telling the public ahead of time: Look, there are people who believe these conspiracy theories. They invent this stuff. When they invent it they exhibit these characteristics of misguided cognition. You can go through the traits we mention in our handbook, like incoherence, immunity to evidence, overriding suspicion, and connecting random dots into a pattern. The best thing to do is to tell the public how they can spot conspiracy theories and how they can protect themselves.
Are you aware of any cases where the conspiracy theorists turned out to be right?
There are tens of thousands of conspiracy theories out there, so I haven’t checked them all. But if you look at actual conspiracies, Volkswagen, Iran-contra, Watergate — the real conspiracies — they were uncovered by conventional cognition. There weren’t people there who took the absence of evidence to be evidence for the theory, or who reinterpreted contrary evidence to somehow support their theory. I’m not aware of any conspiracy theorists discovering something where they turn out to be correct.
Justices Deny Holcomb’s Request To Clarify If Hill’s Suspension Creates Vacancy
by Olivia Covington
for Indiana Lawyer
The Indiana Supreme Court has denied Gov. Eric Holcomb’s request for clarification on whether now-suspended Attorney General Curtis Hill has temporarily vacated his office due to his suspension. The ruling means, at least for now, Hill’s chief deputy will remain in charge of the legal operations of the Indiana Office of the Attorney General.
The justices Monday declined Holcomb’s emergency motion to intervene seeking clarification, finding the governor’s intervention in Hill’s disciplinary case would be “inappropriate.â€
The order, signed by Chief Justice Loretta Rush, comes the same day that Hill begins a 30-day suspension with automatic reinstatement for violations of Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct 8.4(b) and (d) related to allegations that he drunkenly groped four women in 2018.  All justices concurred in the suspension and in the denial of the governor’s motion.
The disciplinary order came down May 11, and Holcomb filed his motion the next day, seeking clarity on the meaning of the statutory requirement that the attorney general be “duly licensed to practice law.†If the suspension meant Hill was not “duly licensed,†Holcomb argued, a vacancy in the office would be created that he would have to fill.
But the justices noted that Holcomb is a nonparty to the discipline case. Additionally, “these issues were not litigated by the parties and are extraneous to our disciplinary opinion, making intervention inappropriate.â€
“Moreover, courts generally should not issue advisory opinions … or decide issues if there is no controversy before them,†the order continues. “… These principles, too, counsel for judicial restraint and against allowing intervention.â€
He also argued Hill is only disqualified from the legal aspects of being attorney general, as opposed to his other statutory duties, such as general administration of the office. In his place, chief deputy Aaron Negangard is overseeing the legal operations.
What’s more, Lundberg said, while Hill is not authorized to practice law again until June 18, he remains “licensed,†thus meeting the statutory requirement that he be “duly licensed to practice law.â€
The Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission did not oppose the motion to intervene but also did not opine on the statutory process for filling a vacancy. However, the commission did imply that the suspension could mean Hill would have to give up all of his statutory functions, not just those that are legal in nature, during his suspension.
FOOTNOTE: Indiana Lawyer reached out to Holcomb’s office for comment but received no response.
In lieu of our normal Monday “This Week at USI” email, please see the latest COVID-19-related updates from USI below. For the latest information and updates from USI related to COVID-19, please visit the USI website at USI.edu/covid-19/.
On Friday, May 15, USI President Dr. Ronald Rochon provided an update to USI students, employees, and retirees on Friday, May 15 following two webinar sessions featuring updates and preliminary recommendations from three of the presidential task force’s core committees. That update, as well as a short video, is available on the USI COVID-19 website at USI.edu/COVID-19.
University of Southern Indiana Lifelong Learning is offering free online self-paced tutorial versions of a selection of its noncredit courses to the community. Across the region and the state, professionals and students are all rapidly adjusting to new realities of working and learning remotely. USI is offering these courses to anyone in the community to provide support to individuals and businesses as they adapt to these changing times and continue their personal and professional pursuit of knowledge. Read More
Wagenaar’s The Spinning Place named 2020 Poetry Award winner by Midland Authors
The Spinning Place, a book of poetry by Chelsea Wagenaar published by Southern Indiana Review (SIR) Press, has been named the winner of the 2020 Poetry Award by Midland Authors as the best poetry book published by a Midwest author in 2019. Read More
(May 18, 2020) — After listening to feedback from restaurant operators, neighborhood leaders, and residents, local government leaders announced an expedited permit process that enables restaurants to temporarily expand their dining areas.
The Evansville Restaurant Relief Program will enable restaurant operators to expand their outdoor dining areas onto the existing property and public rights-of-way.
“This program will empower participating restaurants to provide a sense of normalcy and safety to their customers,” said Mayor Lloyd Winnecke.
Indoor/outdoor restaurant seating will be limited to Back on Track Indiana plan capacities (50 percent before June 14 and 75 percent beginning June 14). No application or permit fees will be charged for review or approval, although fees otherwise charged for encroachment permits or reviews are not waived by the program.
“As a local business owner, I understand the crisis’ impact on restaurants and other small businesses,” said Vanderburgh County Commissioner Jeff Hatfield. “By providing this type of relief, we’re giving our workforce tools to reopen responsibly.”
The temporary program ends after July 3, and is subject to change in the event additional protections and guidelines are put in place.
(May 18, 2020) — After listening to feedback from restaurant operators, neighborhood leaders, and residents, local government leaders announced an expedited permit process that enables restaurants to temporarily expand their dining areas.
The Evansville Restaurant Relief Program will enable restaurant operators to expand their outdoor dining areas onto the existing property and public rights-of-way.
This program will empower participating restaurants to provide a sense of normalcy and safety to their customers,” said Mayor Lloyd Winnecke.
Indoor/outdoor restaurant seating will be limited to Back on Track Indiana plan capacities (50 percent before June 14 and 75 percent beginning June 14). No application or permit fees will be charged for review or approval, although fees otherwise charged for encroachment permits or reviews are not waived by the program.
“As a local business owner, I understand the crisis’ impact on restaurants and other small businesses,” said Vanderburgh County Commissioner Jeff Hatfield. “By providing this type of relief, we’re giving our workforce tools to reopen responsibly.”
The temporary program ends after July 3, and is subject to change in the event additional protections and guidelines are put in place.
Due to the nation-wide spread of the COVID-19 virus, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to allow more time for retailers to sell Step 1-certified residential wood heating devices. This proposed action would give manufacturers and retailers additional time to sell wood heaters that meet the 2015 Clean Air Act emission standards after the current May 15, 2020 deadline. If finalized as proposed, it would allow sales of Step 1 devices until November 30, 2020. EPA’s proposed amendment to the 2015 New Source Performance Standards for New Residential Wood Heaters, New Hydronic Heaters and Forced-Air Furnaces (collectively referred to as “wood heating devicesâ€) is in reaction to the unprecedented disruption caused by the COVID-19 public health emergency.
“This additional time to sell Step 1-certified devices will give businesses an opportunity to recover sales that have been lost due to the coronavirus health crisis,â€Â said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “More than 90 percent of manufacturers and retailers of wood heaters are small businesses, many of which have experienced significant losses in retail sales. This action will provide economic relief to these employers as America begins to reopen its businesses.â€
The COVID-19 public health emergency has resulted in significant losses in retail sales due to temporary closure of stores, stay at home directives and other restrictions implemented across the country and the world. As a result, vendors and retail stores have lost time they needed to sell their remaining inventory of Step 1 units before the May 15, 2020 compliance date. This proposed action, if finalized, will ensure retailers regain time for normal business operations lost due to the public health emergency.
“Right Jab And Middle Jab And Left Jab†MAY 19, 2020
“Right Jab And Middle Jab And Left Jabâ€Â was created because we have a couple of commenters that post on a daily basis either in our “IS IT TRUE†or “Readers Forum†columns concerning National or International issues.
The majority of our “IS IT TRUE†columns are about local or state issues, so we have decided to give our more opinionated readers exclusive access to our newly created “LEFT JAB and Middle Jab and RIGHT JAB† column. They now have this post to exclusively discuss national or world issues that they feel passionate about.
We shall be posting the “LEFT JAB†AND “MIDDLE JAB†AND “RIGHT JABâ€Â several times a week.  Oh, “LEFT JAB†is a liberal view, “MIDDLE JAB†is the libertarian view and the “RIGHT JAB is representative of the more conservative views. Also, any reader who would like to react to the written comments in this column is free to do so.
