Phase 2

Today was one of anticipation for all in the Hoosier state.  It was the day that Governor Holcomb was to address the stay at home order that was to expire at midnight.  There was a lot of speculation on what he would say or do during his daily update on COVID-19 in Indiana.  Since Michigan, Illinois and Ohio Governors had extended the stays in their states for at least two more weeks, some felt that Holcomb would do the same.  Others were sure that he would lift the order all together.  Both Doug and I decided to watch his speech at 2:30 this afternoon so as not to get the news secondhand.

In the end we were all impressed by his decision.  The governor said that we were done with Phase 1 which was more of a lock down stage and were starting Phase 2 on Monday May 4th with some loosening of restrictions to start that day and even more on the 11th.  Three counties in the state would still remain in Phase 1 as they had been hit hardest by the pandemic.  All Hoosiers over 65 or who had health issues were asked to remain in Phase 1 until May 24th as they were the ones most at risk of a deadly outcome from the virus.  He had four specific data points that he was able to convey in the press conference that helped him to arrive at this decision and hoped to move everyone into Phase 3 on the 24th as well.  There were five phases in total all aimed at opening up more and more of the state.  Social distancing was to continue in all five of the phases until a vaccine or cure was found.

Cam, Meg, Doug and I all talked tonight about our thoughts on the changes to the stay at home order. We realized that it was drastically different than other states in the midwest, but wasn't the complete re-opening that Georgia decided to go with this week.  We were happy with the plan even if our state was being called the guinea pig state.  We all realized that the economy has to get back on track if we as a nation are to survive.  We decided that our family would take a hybrid approach to the phases and continue our own stay at home order next week before easing up a little on our household restrictions.  Governor Holcomb said that there would be more deaths, so we will watch the numbers and use those to make more decisions in the future as our state gets "back on track."  For now just the thought that Meg and Cam might be able to order Moe's on the 13th was a happy one for both.