Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb says he’s meeting with the governors of states bordering Indiana to discuss how and when Indiana businesses will open up once COVID-19 cases subside.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker extended that state’s stay at home order until the end of May, although some non-essential businesses were allowed to resume limited operations.
However, on Friday Holcomb says he will wait until next week to decide if the stay at home order will be extended and for how long.
The order expires May 1st and the state of Ohio also has a stay at home order expiring on May 1st.
"We will let the numbers, and the data drive our decisions,” Holcomb says.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear says his state will need to see 14 days where COVID-19 cases are decreasing, among other benchmarks before parts of Kentucky’s economy will be reopened.
Holcomb says he spoke with Pritzker and Beshear about how to when it would be appropriate to reopen certain sectors of the economy.
“We talked about elective procedures, and we talked about retail businesses opening up in different stages,” Holcomb says.
Friday evening, Holcomb issued an executive order allowing for the resumption of elective and non-urgent medical procedures on April 26th.
But he says he won’t act in lock step with neighboring states if the number of COVID-19 cases in Indiana do not decline.
“This is a delicate balance of lifting and suppression, in terms of what the data is telling you do to, so that we don’t experience a resurgence,” Holcomb says.