Gov. Eric Holcomb is extending into the winter several state initiatives to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, even as the dream of a virus-free summer inches closer to reality in the form of thousands of tiny vaccine containers making their way to Indiana hospitals.
The Republican chief executive announced Tuesday he is continuing the deployment of more than 1,000 Indiana National Guardsmen to the 534 nursing homes and long-term care facilities throughout the state until at least the end of February, instead of ending the mission Dec. 31.
"They've been a godsend, quite frankly," Holcomb said. "And we hear from these long-term care centers saying, 'We don't want you to leave, we're really kind of hitting our groove right now, and it's good teamwork.'"
The guardsmen, who initially were deployed in early November, are tasked with screening nursing home employees and residents for COVID-19, data entry and infection control — enabling long-term care facility staff members to focus on direct care of the residents.
Holcomb said he also plans to sign an executive order authorizing guardsmen — "all of whom have had the appropriate and proper training" — to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to nursing home residents and staff beginning next week.
Sarah Waddle, AARP state director, applauded the governor for extending the National Guard's mission to Indiana nursing homes, whose residents account for more than 50% of the more than 7,000 COVID-19 deaths in the Hoosier State.
"Inadequate staffing for long-term facilities was a challenge before COVID-19 and it has been exacerbated since the virus arrived," Waddle said.
"The deployment of the Indiana National Guard to long-term care facilities has been a huge asset as these men and women have given staff members some much-needed assistance."
The governor said his executive order also will permit retired health care professionals, health students, and individuals with out-of-state medical licenses to continue filling staffing gaps in Indiana hospitals, clinics and other facilities for an additional 90 days.
In addition, the order will suspend certain training requirements to enable the Department of Workforce Development to more rapidly hire employees needed to resolve unemployment insurance benefits claims, Holcomb said.
"We are managing our way through this," Holcomb said. "But as this ebbs and flows from one setting to another, and then back again — around the world, so we're not unique — we have to be ready and we have to be vigilant."
"Of course the vaccine gives us an immense reservoir of optimism to draw upon. But it's our responsibility to do everything that we can for one another, and if there's not a reminder in the holidays in that I don't know where there would be one."
Two vaccines
Dr. Lindsay Weaver, chief medical officer at the Indiana State Department of Health, said 40,000 Hoosier health care workers had received their first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the day Tuesday, and an estimated 91,000 are scheduled to be vaccinated by Jan. 4.
She said the first Indiana shipment of the recently authorized Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was delivered Monday to Franciscan Health hospital in Hammond, and it's initially being distributed, like the Pfizer vaccine, only to health care providers taking care of vulnerable Hoosiers.
"As we continue to receive more vaccine we will continue to expand eligibility, with more health care personnel getting invited daily," Weaver said. "Please be patient and be assured that you are on the list"
Weaver said all licensed health care professionals who have face-to-face interaction with patients should check that their email address is up-to-date with the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency to ensure they don't miss their early opportunity to get the vaccine.
Other Hoosiers, except those living in nursing homes, should expect to wait until at least February — depending on the vaccine delivery schedule — before they'll be eligible to receive the vaccine, Weaver said.
In the meantime, Weaver urged all Hoosiers to continue wearing a face mask in public, following social distancing guidelines, maintaining good hygiene and sanitation, and taking all the other measures needed to limit the spread of COVID-19 — especially at holiday gatherings.
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