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INDIANAPOLIS–Marion County schools will close again by the end of the month.

Health director Virginia Caine had warned she’d order schools back to e-learning if positivity reached 13%. Marion County had more than 900 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, with a positivity rate near 11%. Caine says the percentage of teenagers testing positive is even higher — 18% for high school-age kids, and 14% for middle school. Elementary school students are still at 8%, but Caine predicts that figure will rise to 12% by the end of next week.

Caine says schools have done a good job in keeping the virus under control, but says when the level of spread in the community is this high, those precautions are no longer enough to keep students safe.

Caine is ordering all schools to go all-virtual after Thanksgiving break. The Indianapolis Public Schools and Lawrence Township Schools have already announced they’ll make the switch a week earlier, on November 23.

Caine is also banning spectators at high school sports and other afterschool activities. Players’ parents can attend, but that’s it.

Indy will also resume quarter-capacity limits for gyms and for indoor seating at bars, with churches capped at three-quarters capacity. Marion County will also require health department approval for any gatherings of more than 25 people. That’s a stricter limit than the 50-person cap Governor Holcomb announced Wednesday for all counties which, like Marion, are at the Indiana State Department of Health’s orange risk level, the second-highest.

Mayor Joe Hogsett calls the tightening of restrictions “heartbreaking,” but says the steadily mounting death toll from the pandemic is heartbreaking as well. 814 Marion County residents have died of the virus, including four more reported Thursday. He says observing the county’s mask requirement and capacity limits is a life-or-death issue.

Hogsett says the “vast majority” of bars and restaurants have followed safety orders, but Caine says the health department is still issuing hundreds of citations a month for violations. Hogsett says if and when Congress passes a new relief bill, Indy will disqualify businesses who have defied the health orders from receiving assistance.

Hogsett and Caine both say they’re concerned about the upcoming holidays fueling an already escalating spread of the virus. They’re urging families to rethink large family gatherings. Caine says over the last few weeks, those informal gatherings, more than public places, have been responsible for an increasing number of cases.