INDIANAPOLIS — Marion County health director Dr. Virginia Caine is expected to give an update to the county’s health restrictions today, nearly a week after the CDC recommended that masks no longer need to be worn at all by fully vaccinated people.
Health orders around the state have been toppling left and right in the wake of the CDC’s new guidance and the passage of a new state law requiring elected leaders on the local level to ratify certain health orders.
Indy City-County Council Republican Minority leader Brian Mowery tells WISH-TV it’s time for the mask mandate in Marion County to end.
“I think they (local coronavirus limits) should be rescinded completely,” Mowery said. “I think we’ve seen many other cities do the same that are also very much so Democrat-led cities, such as Bloomington or South Bend, that have lifted their mask mandate.”
Marion County’s positivity rate for COVID infection is at its lowest level since June of last year when the county was at the height of COVID shutdowns. Of the 2.3 million Hoosiers that have been fully vaccinated for COVID, 304,000 are in Marion County.
“It’s time that we say that we trust this vaccine, that we trust that people will do the right thing and that we are confident in the CDC’s recommendations to remove the mask mandates,” Mowery added.
City-County Council President Vop Osili said in a statement that he is waiting on further guidance from the health department before going any further.
“Given the recent change in state law requiring a County’s legislative body to ratify Public Health Orders, the Council will await further guidance from Marion County Public Health Director Dr. Virginia Caine in tomorrow’s COVID-19 briefing about any potential changes to local orders and what an appropriate timeline for those changes might be,” Osili said. “In the meantime, we encourage all Marion County residents over the age of 12 to get one of the safe, effective COVID vaccines currently available.”
