Marion County is cracking down on violations of its coronavirus orders.
Marion County health inspectors have given more than 400 warnings for ignoring the order to wear masks and socially distance, but have issued just two fines since the order took effect a month ago. But Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett says a packed grandstand at the Indianapolis Speedrome for a Saturday race is both irresponsible and discouraging. He says it jeopardizes the progress made against the virus through the sacrifices other residents have made. And he blasts those who continue to insist the pandemic is exaggerated or imagined, declaring, “Their selfishness is an insult to the families of the three-thousand Hoosiers who have lost their lives while infected with this virus.”
Marion County Health Department director Virginia Caine says the department will no longer issue warnings, but will seek a thousand-dollar fine for each violation. She says the county needs to “get the attention” of those who are ignoring public health recommendations.
Caine is steering away from other local governments’ threats to revoke the licenses of violators, saying it would jeopardize the livelihoods of employees., But she says that option remains on the table for serious or repeat violators.
The health department is also limiting crowds for high school sports to 250 people, a stricter limit than the order to cap outdoor events at one-quarter capacity. Caine says she’s “very comfortable” allowing the games to go on, but says players and fans need to mask up, and fans need to observe the distancing that was absent from the Speedrome. She says she’ll review the limit once there’s a better sense of whether high school sports are contributing to community spread.
Caine says Marion County’s rates of new infections and hospitalizations are starting to come down after a steady rise beginning in mid-July. More than nine-percent of the county’s latest batch of tests came back positive, a jump from six-percent a day earlier.