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Gov. Holcomb to Provide Updates in the Fight Against COVID-19

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Gov. Eric J. Holcomb, the Indiana State Department of Health and other state leaders will host a virtual media briefing in the Governor’s Office to provide updates on COVID-19 and its impact on Indiana.

 

WHO:             Gov. Holcomb

State Health Commissioner Kristina Box, M.D., FACOG

 

WHEN:           2:30 p.m. ET, Wednesday, April 8

 

Media RSVP

Please register HERE by 1 p.m. ET Wednesday, April 8. Late requests will not be accepted. One confirmation will be sent per media outlet. If you are confirmed to attend the event, you will receive additional logistics in a separate email.

 

Logistical questions can be directed to agray@gov.in.gov.

 

Media outlets that wish to broadcast the press conference live are encouraged to use the high quality livestream. The livestream is also available to the public. Direct Link: https://livestream.com/accounts/18256195/events/9054752/player?width=960&height=540&enableInfoAndActivity=true&defaultDrawer=feed&autoPlay=true&mute=false

 

New restrictions begin Tuesday as COVID-19 outbreak spreads

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By Erica Irish 
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—Gov. Eric Holcomb and other state leaders gathered Monday to update the public on the growing COVID-19 pandemic, which has now sickened 4,944 and killed 139 across the state as it approaches an expected peak in the outbreak.

Eleven of those people died in a single nursing home in Madison County, Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box revealed at the virtual press briefing. Three employees at the facility, Bethany Point nursing home, tested positive for the virus, two of whom are now hospitalized in critical condition.

Dr. Kristina Box, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Health, provides the daily update on the spread of COVID-19 on Monday. Photo by Janet Williams, TheStatehouseFile. come

“This is a heartbreaking situation and illustrates what a brutal toll COVID-19 can take on our most vulnerable populations,” Box said. “Unfortunately, this will not be the last outbreak of this kind.”

In the first day of a second week of daily, virtual press briefings, Holcomb clarified a new executive order that will expand Indiana’s stay at home order until April 20 and that will impose new restrictions on both essential and non-essential businesses — a primary part of the state’s efforts to prevent the virus from wreaking havoc on vulnerable areas like the nursing home Box described.

“We understand that converting your business model is hard,” Holcomb said. “But it’s hard to give the daily reports, and it’s hard to realize what’s in store for us over the next few weeks. So, drastic times call for drastic measures. We’re all in this together.”

Holcomb’s latest executive order will take effect at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday and require that essential retail businesses like grocery stores, pharmacies and more comply with social distancing guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This includes maintaining at least six feet between store employees and customers and limiting the number of patrons in a business at any given time.

Gov. Eric Holcomb on Monday providing his daily update and information about his newest executive to limit interactions at retail stores. Photo by Janet Williams, TheStatehouseFile.com.

Non-essential retail businesses — florists and bookstores are two examples provided by Holcomb’s team — may remain open but must use alternative services like delivery or curbside pick-up. Campgrounds will also close to recreational camping, though state parks will remain open for those who wish to use them for exercise.

Box said personal protective equipment, or PPE, remains a primary concern for healthcare workers across the country, and Indiana is no exception as it prepares for a surge in cases expected later this month.

While Indiana made requests to and received assistance from the national strategic stockpile of medical supplies available to states in the event of emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic, Box said the state “cannot promise we can replenish anyone’s PPE” under the current circumstances.

“As a healthcare provider, that is incredibly hard for me to say,” Box said. “And I know that as a healthcare provider and a first responder that’s even harder to hear. But that’s the reality that every state across the United States is facing at this time.”

Box noted that hospitals are still reporting some access to their regular supply chains, though some networks have seen a slow in deliveries. State health officials are closely monitoring equipment being used in intensive care units, too. Between March 1 and April 4, the state managed to increase the number of ventilators available by 124%, with 2,639 ventilators available today. The state is monitoring an additional 455 for potential use.

Similarly, about 58% of the state’s available intensive care unit, or ICU, beds are being occupied by patients. Around 31% of those beds are serving COVID-19 cases.

COVID-19 testing is also expanding across the state, Box said, with a renewed focus on pregnant women who may show symptoms of the virus as well as on those with a high body mass index, or BMI. Box said those with a BMI of 30 or higher — those considered obese — need to be tested because such individuals may have diabetes or other health conditions that could make COVID-19 symptoms life threatening.

The economic toll of the virus is also evident, as the Indiana Department of Workforce Development works to accommodate for a historic jump in unemployment claims. The department is also implementing new federal protections for independent contractors and the self-employed, who are typically not covered by the state’s unemployment laws.

Additionally, state leaders said in Monday’s press briefing that Indiana’s revenues fell about $70 million short of their forecast in March. Although the state remains ahead of its forecast for the year-to-date, revenues are expected to continue to fall in the April report, which will reflect the events of March, the month COVID-19 introduced the first of many significant changes to Indiana.

Making reference to Palm Sunday displays that appeared this weekend as many religious celebrations and family gatherings that would normally take place across Indiana were cancelled, Holcomb said Hoosiers will see “peace and victory” when the virus comes to an end.

“Those palm branches symbolized peace and victory as Jesus entered Jerusalem and those palm branches were thrown at his feet,” Holcomb said. “And we will see victory. We will see peace when we too complete our journey through this over the next few weeks, few months.”

Erica Irish is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. 

EPD REPORT

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EPD REPORT

Gov. Holcomb Signs Executive Order To Support EMS

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Governor Eric J. Holcomb today signed an executive order to allow retired and inactive EMS professionals to join the fight against COVID-19.

The executive order permits retired and inactive EMS professionals to provide supplemental health care services in Indiana during this public health emergency without reinstatement or approval by the Indiana EMS Commission if they work under the supervision of a licensed EMS or health care professional.

Under the executive order, retired and inactive EMS professionals are also allowed to provide primary patient care for patients as part of emergency response, transports and facilities with a temporary certification or licensure from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

 

 

2020 Non-Motorist Grant

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  The Evansville Police Department would like to announce the start of the 2020 Non-Motorist Grant. The grant will start on April 10. People can expect to see officers on ATVs, horses and on foot in the parks and greenway area. This is an effort to get policemen out of cars and increase personal interaction with the public while still adhering to “social distancing” protocols.

Sheriff’s Office Adapts Sex Offender Verification Process under COVID-19

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As many residents are forced to stay home due to travel, school and work restrictions, the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office continues to patrol and protect our neighborhoods. The Sheriff’s Office is continuing to make unannounced visits to the 360 plus homes of registered sex or violent offenders in Vanderburgh County. This is to ensure they are abiding by the terms of their registration and the restrictions incurred as a result of the current pandemic.

Deputies checking on registrants are careful to maintain social distance and avoid any close contact in order to reduce the risk of exposure. Sheriff Dave Wedding explained, “We are taking the threat of COVID-19 very seriously and have taken drastic steps to protect all of our residents, personnel, and the inmates at the jail. The Sheriff’s Office will continue to enforce any violations of the Sex or Violent Offender Registry found during any of these home verifications.”

From an enforcement perspective, the benefit of more people being home may not seem readily apparent. One of the major violations a sex offender can commit is to fail to inform the Sheriff’s Office of a change of address. When a deputy attempts to check on a residence on file for a sex offender and no one at the residence (or neighbors residences) answers the door, the deputy is not necessarily able to make a determination regarding whether the sex offender actually lives there. With more residents staying home, more doors get answered. This results in more opportunities to detect deception on the part of the offender.

Sheriff Wedding reminds all parents to monitor their children’s internet activity, especially during this pandemic. Children will be on-line at rates never before seen since the internet was invented; but so will bad actors seeking to make contact with kids. Listen to who your child is talking to while playing online games. Monitor the conversation and make sure you personally know any adult they are conversing with.

To research the sex and violent offender registry in your area please visit: https://www.vanderburghsheriff.com/sex-offenders

Above: Map of all registered sex offenders in Vanderburgh County.

 

 

Gouard Named USI Men’s Basketball Head Coach

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Gouard Named USI Men’s Basketball Head Coach

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Department of Athletics announced the hiring of USI alumnus Stan Gouard ’99 as its new Men’s Basketball head coach. He becomes the 10th head coach in the history of the program.

“I was very excited that Stan had an interest in coming back to USI, a place he considers home,” said Jon Mark Hall, USI Director of Athletics. “Stan has been a part of the USI Athletic family as a player, assistant coach, and now the leader of the program. USI is very excited to have Stan back as a Screaming Eagle.”

“I want to thank USI President (Ronald) Rochon, Jon Mark Hall, and the search committee for this opportunity,” said Gouard.  “I told my wife and daughter, we are Screaming EAGLES again!  Words can not express how excited we are to be returning to Evansville and to the University of Southern Indiana.

“I also want to thank everyone at the University of Indianapolis for 12 wonderful years,” continued Gouard. “President (Robert) Manuel, Dr. (Sue) Willey, and Scott Young have been a tremendous support and am grateful for those relationships that allowed us to accomplish so much together.  The opportunity to coach some of the best student athletes at UIndy comes to a bittersweet end and it saddens me to part ways from this team. We have accomplished so much, both on the court and off the court.  I trust that my guys know that I am only a phone call away if they ever need anything.

“My family and I are excited about this new chapter in our lives and can’t wait to begin building relationships with our student athletes and their families,” concluded Gouard.  “Go EAGLES!!”

Over the last 12 seasons, Gouard (pronounced juh-RARD) has lifted the Greyhound men’s basketball program back to national prominence. That success has included eight NCAA Division II Tournament appearances (2010-2016, 2020); multiple All-Americans, a number one ranking (2014-15 season); and the 2014 GLVC Coach of the Year honor.

In 2019-20, Gouard directed the Greyhounds to a 24-6 overall record; a second place finish in the GLVC Point Ratings; a third place showing in the GLVC standings with a 15-5 league mark; and a number one seeding in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional. Gouard and UIndy were set to host the 2020 NCAA II Midwest Regional until it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gouard has now spent over 20 years in college basketball. The stint includes four years as a student-athlete at USI and John A. Logan College (1992-1996); seven as an assistant coach with the Screaming Eagles (2001-02), UIndy (2002-05) and Indiana State (2005-08); and 12 as a head coach of the Greyhounds (2008-present).

Gouard became the fastest UIndy head coach to reach 150 victories when his 2015-16 team reached 20-wins for the fifth consecutive season. The 150th victory came in the NCAA II Midwest Regional when the Greyhounds defeated 12th-ranked Ashland University.

UIndy made headlines during the 2010-11 preseason when they went on the road and defeated Division I/23rd-ranked University of Tennessee, 79-64, in Knoxville. Gouard and the Greyhounds opened eyes right away in 2009-10, defeating NCAA Division I Valparaiso University, 88-83, in the team’s first exhibition game.

Prior to coming the UIndy, Gouard was an assistant at Indiana State University for three seasons from 2005-08. Gouard mentored the Sycamore post players, including Missouri Valley Conference All-Freshman and All-Bench Team selection Isiah Martin, who broke the single-season blocks record at ISU by a freshman and led the entire conference in blocked shots.

As a player, Gouard helped lead the Eagles to national prominence over his three seasons. USI won the NCAA Division II national championship in 1995; reached the NCAA II Tournament finals in 1994; and was ranked number one nationally in 1995-96 before the Eagles were the top seed in the NCAA II Midwest Regional under former head coach Bruce Pearl. The Eagles also won two GLVC championships with Gouard, while soaring to an 82-12 three-year record.

Gouard was honored for his outstanding play by being named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II National Player of the Year in 1995 and 1996. He also was recognized as the NCAA II Elite Eight Most Outstanding Player and the CBS/Chevrolet Player of the Game in 1994. He was inducted into the John A. Logan College Hall of Fame in 1998; the Great Lakes Valley Conference Hall of Fame in 2003; and the USI Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007. He also received the key to the city of Evansville in 1996.

Following his collegiate career, Gouard played professionally for the Barrinquilla Ciamanes of Columbia, South America, leading his team to the 1999 championship. Gouard also led his Sundsvall Dragon team in Sweden to the playoffs.

As native of Danville, Illinois, Gouard earned his bachelor of science in communications from USI. He and his wife Chasity have a daughter, Kennedy Noelle, who was born in December of 2009.

Sheriff’s Office Adapts Sex Offender Verification Process under COVID-19

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 Sheriff’s Office Adapts Sex Offender Verification Process Under COVID-19

April 7, 2020
 

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unanticipated side effect for the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office Sex and Violent Offender Registry. Sex offenders have become much easier to track.

As many residents are forced to stay home due to travel, school and work restrictions, the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office continues to patrol and protect our neighborhoods. The Sheriff’s Office is continuing to make unannounced visits to the 360 plus homes of registered sex or violent offenders in Vanderburgh County. This is to ensure they are abiding by the terms of their registration and the restrictions incurred as a result of the current pandemic.

Deputies checking on registrants are careful to maintain social distance and avoid any close contact in order to reduce the risk of exposure. Sheriff Dave Wedding explained, “We are taking the threat of COVID-19 very seriously and have taken drastic steps to protect all of our residents, personnel, and the inmates at the jail. The Sheriff’s Office will continue to enforce any violations of the Sex or Violent Offender Registry found during any of these home verifications.”

From an enforcement perspective, the benefit of more people being home may not seem readily apparent. One of the major violations a sex offender can commit is to fail to inform the Sheriff’s Office of a change of address. When a deputy attempts to check on a residence on file for a sex offender and no one at the residence (or neighbors residences) answers the door, the deputy is not necessarily able to make a determination regarding whether the sex offender actually lives there. With more residents staying home, more doors get answered. This results in more opportunities to detect deception on the part of the offender.

Sheriff Wedding reminds all parents to monitor their children’s internet activity, especially during this pandemic. Children will be on-line at rates never before seen since the internet was invented; but so will bad actors seeking to make contact with kids. Listen to who your child is talking to while playing online games. Monitor the conversation and make sure you personally know any adult they are conversing with.

To research the sex and violent offender registry in your area please visit: https://www.vanderburghsheriff.com/sex-offenders

Above: Map of all registered sex offenders in Vanderburgh County.

 

RED CHINA’S PEARL HARBOR

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RED CHINA’S PEARL HARBOR

By Richard Moss, MD

The Chinese Virus, also known as the Red Chinese Virus, the Communist Chinese Virus, the Kung Flu, Flu Manchu, Lung Pow Sicken, Chop Fluey, Covid19 or the Novel Corona Virus (highly bigoted against the producers of Corona Beer, which is made in Mexico), is treated like no other illness in the history of the planet. It has caused enormous damage to the nation as much from government reaction to it as the medical consequences of the disease itself.  It was also completely preventable. 

The virus emerged from Wuhan, China under uncertain circumstances.  Some have speculated that it was part of the Communist Chinese biowarfare laboratory in Wuhan where it escaped and mistakenly entered the population at large.  Or it may have been a zoonotic virus arising from a live, “wet” market.  A Chinese ophthalmologist in Wuhan who has since died from the disease was one of the first to break the news.  The Communist Chinese regime silenced him and others to avoid losing face or creating uncertainty about China.  This cover-up went on for six weeks until the world came to know of the problem.  If China had been forthcoming, even by as little as three weeks, it is estimated it would have reduced the number of cases by 95% and limited global spread.  

Part of the China coverup included silencing its experts, taking away credentials from five US media outlets, and expelling journalists from the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal.  China launched a disinformation campaign blaming the US Military for spreading the virus.   Playing the victim card, China even descended into identity politics claiming at the time that President Trump’s banning of Chinese from entering the United States on January 31, 2020 was racist, a charge eagerly embraced by the Red Chinese American media. The American press went further into overdrive in defending the totalitarian regime when it accused President Trump of racism for referring to the virus as the Wuhan or Chinese virus despite having used the same terms repeatedly themselves.  WHO puppets, like the American media, have parroted Red Chinese propaganda. 

Trump has engaged in a number of unprecedented steps to impede the spread of the Chinese Virus, including banning travel from China, Europe, the UK, and Ireland, sealing our borders, and declaring a public health emergency.  He has formed a task force headed by Vice President Mike Pence, held daily press conferences, worked with state governors, and invoked the Defense Production Act.  Trump has also signed the historic $2.2 trillion Corona Virus Stimulus bill, with a dizzying array of spending and funding options. More than half the states have imposed lockdown measures, quarantines, “sheltering in place,” and “social distancing,” disrupting the activities of more than 100 million people and halting the operations of thousands of businesses.  The impact of placing much of the country under house arrest, the abridgment of civil liberties, and shutting down vast segments of the economy has been crushing.    

In the last two weeks of March, there have been 10 million jobless claims, already exceeding the 8.7 million claims filed during the Great Recession 2007-2009 from peak to trough.  The stock market entered a bear market with the Dow plunging 23% for the quarter, its worst since 1987.  Oxford Economics estimates there will be 24 million lost jobs and a 14% unemployment rate in April, well above the 10% peak reached during the Great Recession.  GDP is expected to fall by 9% in the first quarter and 34% in the 2nd quarter, the worst since World War II.

The Corona virus pandemic shatters several sacred myths held by governing elites.  These include religious devotion to open borders and globalism, the rejection of nationalism and the nation-state, and absolute allegiance to free trade, particularly with China.  Many American companies outsourced their manufacturing to China, creating enormous profits for themselves on the backs of Chinese slave labor while eviscerating the American heartland.  For the privilege of investing in China and having access to its vast market, the Communist government forced companies to give the regime majority ownership and its proprietary intellectual property.  In time, the regime created its own version of the company, stealing its technology and eliminating the competition.  

Yet we foolishly went along with this scam for two decades.  In so doing, we knowingly jeopardized our national security, devastated our labor force, and placed our supply chains for critical products at risk.  We suffered through massive trade deficits, the loss of manufacturing, the lowering of life expectancy, increases in suicide and drug dependency, and the wiping out of communities, littered like so many carcasses through the midsection of the country. 

Even more delusional was the notion that through trade Red China would liberalize and become a more open, democratic, law-abiding member of the international community.  The Chinese government, however, is a Leninist regime, a totalitarian police and surveillance state that has no intention of relinquishing power.  Nor will it abide rights or freedoms for its subject population.  Instead, it persecutes and imprisons them, crushes dissent, and commits human rights abuses and atrocities against marginalized communities such as the Uighurs, Tibetans, and the Falun Gong.

Through tax, regulatory, legal, and other incentives and remedies, the US must return manufacturing to the US, recreate supply chains within the country or with allies, wean the nation from China, delink our economies, stop flooding our universities with Chinese students, and treat China as an “evil empire” and strategic threat far greater than the Soviet Union.  We must have free trade, but an America First free trade that benefits the nation and our workers.  The cost of globalism has proven too high.

The Chinese have delivered unto our nation this century’s Pearl Harbor.  With the cover-up and unleashing of the Chinese Virus upon our shores, either deliberately or through negligence, it has devastated the country every bit as much as the attack on our naval base in 1941.  We must punish China and treat it as the adversary it is.

April 6, 2020

FOOTNOTE: Dr. Moss is a practicing Ear Nose and Throat Surgeon, author, and columnist, residing in Jasper, IN.  He has written A Surgeon’s Odyssey and Matilda’s Triumph available on amazon.com.  Find more of his essays at richardmossmd.com.  Visit Richard Moss, M.D. on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The City-County County Observer posted this article without bias, opinion or editing.