St. Joseph County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Mark Fox Tribune File Photo/ROBERT FRANKLIN
SOUTH BEND — Dr. Mark Fox said he was “stunned” when he saw data showing 10% of all the COVID-19 cases in St. Joseph County since the pandemic began had occurred in the past week.
Of the more than 11,000 positive cases in the 34 weeks of the pandemic, the county had 2,017 active cases diagnosed in the past seven days.
“It opened my eyes,” said Fox, the deputy St. Joseph County health officer.
The graphics presented at a weekly press conference in South Bend on Thursday showed upticks in the number of COVID-19 infections as the state moved into Stage 4.5 of Gov. Eric Holcomb’s Back on Track plan, and another corresponding spike when the state moved to Stage 5.
While Fox, South Bend Mayor James Mueller and Jeff Rea, president of the St. Joseph County Chamber of Commerce, stressed the wearing of masks, social distancing and limiting sizes of group activities, they spoke of striking a balance between total lockdowns of business and social events and fully unrestricted activity.
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