Governor Eric Holcomb has extended the state’s pandemic-related public health emergency for another 30 days. It was to end Sunday, Feb. 28.

Though the Indiana State Department of Health is showing virus spread decreasing in many Indiana counties, the number of COVID-19 deaths is still a concern, he said, with 214 deaths since last week, he said at a Feb. 24 press conference.

Indiana will also be the host of March Madness, hosting the Big Ten, Ohio Valley Conference, Horizon League and NCAA Division I and II men’s tournaments. That will bring more visitors to the state.

Most counties are currently at an advisory level of yellow, the second-lowest category. Ten are at orange, the second-highest, and nine are blue, the lowest.

Brown County is operating at yellow-level capacity restrictions, but we will be able to move to blue Wednesday, March 3 if our new case and test positivity numbers do not rise.

Blue level means that gatherings are restricted to 250 people; on yellow, they are restricted to 100 people. Face coverings are still required at either level.

“We’ve made remarkable progress in a relatively short period of time,” Holcomb said. “Because of our actions, or not doing some things, it has aided into getting us to where we are right now.”

State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said that certain vaccine clinics in the state have deviated from eligibility guidelines, offering vaccines to people who are not age- or job-eligible for them yet.

“When clinics don’t follow guidelines, they create inequities,” she said. State health officials have spoken with these clinics and they will not receive more first doses for a limited time.

Currently, vaccines are open to Hoosiers 60 and older and those who work in health care and law enforcement.

“We’re not trying to be the vaccine police; we are trying to ensure we have equitable access to the highest risk,” Box said. “We cannot achieve that goal if sites deviate from guidelines.”

Brown County’s vaccine clinic at the Brown County Music Center did not have to make any changes to its policies, said Corey Frost, public health preparedness coordinator. “We didn’t have to move anyone off the (vaccine waiting) list, but we do follow the eligibility criteria,” he said. Like many clinics, the BCMC keeps a waiting list of people who want to receive the vaccine but couldn’t get an appointment just in case there are any doses that could otherwise go unused at the end of the day.

“When we exhaust the current (age and job eligibility) criteria, we can go down to the next demographic,” he said about calling people off the waiting list. “For example, it is 60 years old now, so we would go down to 55-year-olds, etc.”

Brown County is now getting 600 doses a week, he said.

Box added that most clinics “have been amazing,” administering as many vaccines as they have in a short time. To date, 920,930 Hoosiers have received a first dose of vaccine and 482,564 are fully vaccinated.

The next eligibility expansion will be to Hoosiers age 50 and older and also people 16 and older with certain medical conditions that make them more susceptible to serious illness.

Ten mobile vaccine units will be traveling to counties where appointments are booked for the foreseeable future: Bartholomew, Clinton, Dearborn, Greene, Lake, LaPorte, Lawrence, Randolph, Scott and White counties.

State officials have informed clinics that vaccines are no longer to be administered to out-of-state people. Vaccines had previously been given to those not from Indiana in order to help healthcare infrastructure, Box said.

Frost also said that “there is a ‘vaccine hunter’ issue going on in some of the border counties where an individual will come over from another state seeking vaccine. The standard is the patient must be a resident of the state to be eligible.”

Hoosiers should be prepared to show documentation of residency when arriving at a vaccine clinic, Box said.

More vaccine information: coronavirus.in.gov.