Indiana's governor has announced that all K-12 schools across the state will remain closed through the end of the school year.
In-classroom instruction had already been stopped through April 30, but the announcement means e-learning will continue through the end of the academic year.
The announcement comes on the same day Indiana reported 474 new cases of novel coronavirus and 13 additional deaths associated with the illness, according to the state's health department.
The new positive test results bring the state’s total number of confirmed cases to 3,039 with 78 deaths since the pandemic began.
According to data compiled by the state’s health department as of Sunday, adults between the ages of 60 and 69 have accounted for the most positive tests, with 18.2 percent of confirmed cases in the state coming from that age group.
The state has conducted more than 14,000 coronavirus tests since the outbreak started, according to official figures. A total of 14,375 tests have been administered statewide as of Wednesday morning.
Indiana hospitals have added about 500 critical care beds to give the state 1,940 as of Monday, said Dr. Jennifer Sullivan, secretary of the state’s Family and Social Services Administration.
While officials said about 60% of those ICU beds were in use, Sullivan said hospitals continued working to create more ICU capacity by steps such as converting operating and recovery rooms space. The state’s goal is to double the pre-virus intensive care capacity and Indiana’s count of 1,177 ventilators to meet an anticipated COVID-19 case surge in the coming weeks, she said.
Holcomb also issued an executive order Monday allowing for recently retired medical professionals and out-of-state professionals to apply for temporary medical licenses to help in the response to the pandemic.
