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The Marion County Public Health Department will now immediately slap $1,000 fines on businesses and venues that defy mask and social distancing mandates, stepping up enforcement of the county’s public health order, Dr. Virginia Caine, department director, announced Tuesday.
The announcement came after the health department investigated at least three Marion County businesses and venues that were accused of violating the public health order over the weekend, including the Indianapolis Speedrome, which the health department said did not enforce the mask mandate and exceeded capacity limits. The Speedrome was cited and fined $1,000.
Previously, the department was taking an education-first approach by issuing initial warnings and then fines starting at $50. To date, the department has received 407 complaints about violations but has issued only two citations.
“The education and warning period is over,” Caine said during a press conference.
The department will now immediately issue $1,000 fines if it determines a business isn’t following the county’s guidance for safely operating.
Fines could go higher, up to $1,500 a day, for businesses that continue to violate the order and, if deemed necessary, the health department can shut them down, Caine said.
Individuals may also be fined up to $1,000, but the health department’s enforcement effort will focus on businesses and venues.
Mayor Joe Hogsett opened Tuesday’s press conference expressing disappointment with businesses that have “flouted” the public health order.
“They did this even as children, teachers and administrators cautiously are returning to school, as other businesses remain closed at a great cost, as families make painful sacrifices because they want to do their part to bring an end to this pandemic,” he said. “We have spent months clawing our way to where we are. To see others possibly squander that in the course of just one afternoon is painful.”
Health indicators the county watches when issuing the public health orders are improving, Caine said. The county’s seven-day positivity rate—the number of tests that are positive—has been at about 9.2% but appears to be declining. Emergency room visits for patients experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and hospital admissions have also decreased.
Still, the number of young adults testing positive for the virus continues to climb. Now, 62% of cases are diagnosed in people under the age of 40, up from 55% in late July.
With that in mind, bars and nightclubs in Marion County will remain closed, including places that are restricted to people 21 and over that did not have a full food menu before March 1. The current public health order closed bars and nightclubs until at least Aug. 12. The new order has yet to be published, and officials on Tuesday did not indicate when it would expire.
Other restrictions include:
- Outdoor and indoor dining remains at 50% capacity. No bar services permitted;
- Age-restricted restaurants with a full food menu are capped at 25% capacity;
- Masks are required in restaurants when not eating or drinking;
- Fall high school sports can proceed with a maximum of 250 masked spectators, and athletes must wear masks when on the sidelines.
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Wow, riots ok but get your checkbook out if you gather but do not riot.
Correction – the businesses, not patrons, get fined if they don’t enforce the mask madate, not if they gather. Reading isn’t you’re strong suit, is it Jan?
Only if you riot without your mask on…
D M. – wasn’t there just one riot?
There must be an exemption for rioters somewhere in all this, Jan B; you can’t expect them to be held to the same standard as decent people. (Yes, liberals, read it and weep; I said rioters are not decent people.)
Maybe they can step up enforcement of not spray painting the Monon Trail while they are at it. And speeding on 465/tailgating. But then again, those rules were passed by legislature/city council so they are not valid in this upside-down world.
Ever notice that those fines are only applicable able to those they can get money from? Why not fine the true people breaking the “law”?
They are ruling by decree. Remember this at the ballot box. The state constitution and U.S. Constitution doesn’t allow this but no one seems to have the leadership to enforce these documents or the actual law. Its a very, very sad state of affairs.
Maybe get a $25 permit from Mayor Joe to have a riot, oops, I mean peaceful protest, in your bar/church/restaurant. Then they will leave you alone because riots are acceptable, people just “wanting their voices to be heard”. Downtown Indianapolis will be a ghost town for years to come with vacant space, the spa is just in the first wave of many more I am guessing. City leaders better hope for a vaccine soon, because the only big revenue coming into downtown will be from the conventions/sports/tourism once it starts up again.
They only care about downtown as a place for the druggies and homeless, not the working, tax paying citizens and business people
Mayor Hogsett is a complete idiot, but a typical Democrat that will always take someone else’s money. If he had any business sense he would work to get all businesses up and running at full capacity. I really appreciate the lack of sense making people weAr masks in restaurants, you can’t wash your hands without afterwards handling your mask and putting in on the table, the seat next to you or in your purse or pocket. Wow, let’s talk about cross contamination!
Amen! Masks don’t actually have to make sense or operate properly. They just want to make us wear them anyway.
As of today, 2,863 deaths in Indiana out of 6,700,000 population. After six months of this insanity, the Indiana death rate is .00042731.
For those worried about school and “protecting our kids” the death rate is .01 percent of all cases under age 18. Source: IN.Gov/Covid
Who are you going to pick to die? Who are you going to pick to be sick for weeks at a time? I wish it were just about deaths, but it’s not.
Okay DM, who we going to pick to die? Well, who are you going to pick to drive a car, get into a car accident, and die every single minute, hour, day of the year? But do you still get into your car every day to go to work, the store, etc?! Yes you do!
For every time you and someone else says that type of comment over this damn virus, the hard truth is we cannot de-risk our entire lives. Life has risks driving a car, flying in planes, exercising, and so many other things. What should we do…stay at home and sit in a Lazy Boy chair all day long and/or live in a bubble? Certain Party members of Congress want that because they want You dependent on them and without jobs you become 100% dependent and you are falling into their hands like prey to a predator. Don’t let them win. We have created an alarmist mentality, a state of fear over a virus that has a death rate less than the annual common seasonal flu.
And you are exactly right, it isn’t just about deaths, it is about living life…quality life…and right now everyone’s life and quality of life has turned to shit. Yes, people are alive but they are out of work or their businesses are failing (Covid and riots/looting related) and cannot pay rent or mortgages, cannot put food on the table, suicide rates are up, heart, diabetic, cancer and many other underlying morbidity related deaths are up because we have created such a fear that people will not seek normal treatment or preventative or palliative treatment for their disease because they are afraid to seek health care. How ironic is that? Protect yourself from one risk, die from another risk. When evaluating risk, you simply cannot look at it in a vacuum.
Riots, pointing loaded weapons at drivers that are driving legally, being stopped by illegal protesting, spray painting half the city, drugs on the circle, but mask up everybody!
These ordinances are unenforceable and need to be challenged in court. We are no longer in an urgent “emergency” situation as we may have been back in March when we knew very little about the virus and it’s potential health risks. Now that we know the virus poses little to no risk to virtually 99.9% of the population, the situation is not urgent, we are simply trying to manage it to protect those that are most vulnerable. Only during an “emergency” do Governors and Mayor’s have the ability to write law with the stroke of a pen. If they want this to be an enforceable law, it needs to go through the legislative process and voted on like any other bill that becomes a law. This is an unbelievable and unacceptable abuse of power that needs to stop!
Bring on the challenges, Ashlee. Sort of like your orange leader legislating via Executive Order last week.
Horatio S.
In review you seem to have all the liberal talking points ready to illustrate without any supporting facts…How about supporting facts and no opinion…Many many scientist totally disagree with CDC suggested guidelines and Dr Fauci let alone the rogue , absent control freak Mayor Joe and his uninformed Health commissioner…Ok for Riots but no church gatherings or other organized activity etc…Protect those most vulnerable and reopen all of country including schools…World is not sterile now and never will be !
Jim W. – what supporting facts do you think either of us could produce that will prove whether Hogsett has the authority is issue the mandate? I am not an Indiana constitutional lawyer, nor do I suspect you are either. My point is simply that I haven’t seen many cases anywhere in the country where this issue has been argued in court. I believe, generally, that judges have deferred to qualified public health officials in these matters. So, sure, it is my opinion, not a fact, in this particular comment.
I’m sure there are lawyers on both sides of the argument. That’s why I blithely suggested to “bring on the challenges” so we can resolve once and for all if it’s legal to issue these orders and impose consequences.
Oh, and protecting the most vulnerable means wearing masks and possibly doing distant learning.
Ratcheting up government control by the Hogsett politbureau ….
The correct government policy is:
Until and unless the hospitals are overrun, each individual person is responsible for him or herself;
If you don’t want COVID-19, stay home and stay away from anyone who doesn’t stay home.
The End
How do we impeach an idiot mayor???
I’ve been wondering the same thing.
The more useless they are, the harder it is to get rid of them.
Good Job Mayor. We need to get this under control so we don’t have to shut completely down again. Wearing masks and socially distancing are keys to more freedom.
If you don’t think you can be told to wear a mask, the government has told you all along that you are required to wear certain things for health and safety. Try going into a public place with no pants, shirt or shoes, and now a mask.
Freedoms are earned and not to be given away to power hungry Governors and Mayors…Rioters seem to have more rights than taxpayers ! Go figure ………………….
State passes 75K total COVID-19 cases, reports highest daily death toll in 2 months. Guess a lot of people are not being responsible for themselves. Those are the idiots that force government policy.
Really…Too much cool aid for you !Give a true count on the deaths with Covid and a total of deaths caused by Covid…Don’t include all other reasons in the total and then give a historic comparison of deaths from same period year to year …Think you will find the results are similar ….
Stick it where the sun don’t shine Pothole Joe!
John M
You would have draw Hogsett a picture and explain it really really slowly
Go into any Dollar General or Family Dollar and you will see majority of people without mask. Employee told someone they needed a mask on and she got cussed out and threatened. She looked at me and said “They don’t pay me enough to deal with this”
It was supposed to be about flattening the curve! That has been accomplished. Now, it’s evident that it’s political.
I know this might be a lot of information to absorb, but take a look at the Indiana State Department of Health Corona Virus web page. Marion County has has NOT flattened the curve. We did for a while. We are back up with positive rates equal to late March and early April.
https://www.coronavirus.in.gov/
You can even filter on a county basis. The critical number that most countries, and the Marion County Department of Health, and the Mayor use is the “Positivity” numbers. They should be below 5%. Marion County is around 9.2%.
Part of what that means there is still too much community spread to effectively do contact tracing as community spread accelerates, so do hospitalizations and the death rate, but with maybe a two week lag time.
Take a few minutes to educate yourself.
Hogsett is doing what Democrat mayors do best.
Economically kill and destroy prosperous cities!
Not sure what the bigger joke is – Hogsett or covid?
COVid is a national joke. Hoghead only dreams to be that significant!
Joe Hogsett could not lead himself out of a flaming bag of fecal matter.