Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke says the city has no plans to reinstitute mask mandates, despite new CDC guidance and increases in COVID infections.
I asked Mayor Winnecke if he was considering a return to masks at the Civic Center. He said not at this time.
"There has been a slight uptick in hospitalizations in our community but nowhere near the surge point from a year ago or last fall."
Winnecke stressed vaccinations…
"What I'm told by health care experts both from the health department and both health systems is that the overwhelming number of people who are testing positive now are unvaccinated. So, what the health care experts tell me is that the number one thing we can do as a society to beat this virus is to get vaccinated."
On its Thursday dashboard, the Indiana Department of Health reported 127 more Vanderburgh County residents became fully vaccinated and more than 200 got their first shot of a two-shot vaccine.
The county also saw 31 new infections and a rise in the seven-day positivity rate above 23 percent, but no new COVID-related deaths.
Statewide, six new deaths were recorded along with nearly 1,300 new infections.