Parks closed
Mayor Greg York contacted The Courier-Times late Friday morning to announce that all city parks are closed to the public until further notice to stop the potential spread of the new coronavirus.
This closes all parks, all playground equipment, all basketball courts and the New Castle skatepark.
York said it''s either all or nothing.
"We just cannot police part-open and part-not," York said. "So, all city parks are closed. And the police are going to police it.
"It breaks my heart to have to do that," the mayor added. "But with the state that we''re in right now, I think it''s the best thing to do."
Travis Weik, Managing Editor
News concerning the COVID-19 pandemic is nearly inescapable these days. From the local newspaper headlines to Indianapolis television stations, governor and presidential press conferences and massive national media coverage, it’s everywhere.
Yet, some people in New Castle and Henry County seem to be taking a business as usual approach. Mayor Greg York says he still sees too many people out, disregarding the spirit of the county’s code orange “essential only” travel restrictions.
“In my opinion I feel like the last three weeks have just been a practice,” York said. “I feel like we’ve got to get better every day if we’re wanting to get ahead of this and keep our numbers down. I’ve been tracking the number of cases and the number of deaths in Indiana for the last three weeks, and I wish that I could say that everything they’ve been saying on TV wasn’t true, but pretty much everything they’ve been saying has been right on track.
York said the highly contagious coronavirus has been multiplying at an alarming rate – and more cases are headed this way.
“They say that Indianapolis is going to peak in two to three weeks and then it will grow out to Greenfield in four weeks and then it will be in New Castle in four to five weeks,” York said.
“On March 22, literally Indianapolis had 82 cases, Greenfield had two cases, Henry County had none,” York said. “Just nine days later, April 1, Indianapolis has 1,304 cases, Greenfield has 37 cases and New Castle has 6. In nine days, it went from four deaths statewide to 78 deaths.
“The first week we went orange, I thought people did really good. But if we want to stay below that curve, we’ve got to do better,” he said.
York recounted a disturbing scene he witnessed recently at Walmart.
“I saw two adults get out of the car and take four elementary age kids inside,” York said. “I just cringed. We’ve got to be better than that. Everybody has to pitch in together. We have a lot of people who are abiding by the rules. But we have some people who say ‘the sun’s out, it’s nice, I’ve just got to get out of the house for a little bit.’”
York said the better approach for that and other families with children is for one parent to stay inside the vehicle with the kids while the other shops.
Lifelong New Castle resident Rita White shares the mayor’s concern. A recent doctor visit to Richmond showed a stark contrast to how people are handling the pandemic warnings there versus here.
“Richmond was like a ghost town,” she said. “I saw three cars, a few semis, no restaurants open, nobody walking on the roads or anything,” White said. “Here, convenience stores are packed, there are signs all over asking people to stand six feet away and there’s 20 people in a Village Pantry.”
And not one person, she said, was wearing a face mask.
White, who said she was 55 and has diabetes along with COPD, said the scene frightened her.
“I started having panic attacks so bad,” she said. “They just don’t care. I don’t understand it. I want people to take this seriously. They’re acting like life’s normal right now and it really isn’t. Then I thought, ‘all of those people could be dead in a month.”
Henry County Health Department Administrator Angela Cox said her information is that the virus will peak here in mid- to late-April. She agrees people need to take this more seriously.
“There have been some mixed messages,” Cox said. “I have had people, though, who in the beginning of this told me ‘you’re overreacting’ now saying they understand how serious this is. It’s finding that happy medium in my mind. It’s hard to change culture, and it does take time.”
York has, from the beginning, urged local residents to “be aware, but not be afraid.” Recent data, however, has made him reevaluate that position.
“We’re not practicing social distancing like we were that first week,” York said. “This is just my opinion, but I think when it peaks in Indianapolis, that’s when we have to hunker down.”
York said he believes when that Indianapolis peak happens in two to three weeks, Henry County’s travel status will go from its current orange to red. Law enforcement officers may soon be constant sites at big stores, allowing just a certain number of people inside at any one time.
Commissioners President Kim Cronk said a code red travel status mean individuals would have to:
• refrain from all travel
• comply with necessary emergency measures
• cooperate with public officials and disaster services forces in executing emergency management plans
• obey and comply with lawful directions of properly identified officers.
Cronk said currently, just two of Indiana’s 92 counties are under the code red status – Marion and Decatur.
York said he hopes it doesn’t happen, but fears New Castle and Henry County will suffer dire consequences if current habits aren’t changed.
“Two weeks ago, the roads were bare,” York said. “Now I see a lot of people going up and down Main and Broad streets that I know are certainly not going to work.
“I fear someone we are close to is going to die. This is not a matter of ‘oh, we’re bored at home, just want to get out for a little bit.’ This is a matter of us staying in like we’re supposed to and hopefully saving someone from dying,” the mayor said.
“I would love to say we’re going to get through this with zero deaths. But there’s not many counties that’s escaping that right now. This is a lot more serious than people think.”
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