Senate Democratic Leader Tim Lanane on governor flip-flopping on mask order

INDIANAPOLIS – This week, the country’s top medical officials pointed to Indiana as one of four states primed to experience a large COVID-19 outbreak if better outbreak control measures are not implemented soon. Both Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx warned that these Midwest states are seeing increasing positivity rates which cannot be blamed on increased testing.

Governor Holcomb implemented a statewide mask mandate but stopped short of actually enforcing it due to resistance from members of his own party.

Senate Democratic Leader Tim Lanane (D-Anderson) had the following concerns about the governor’s flip-flopping on his mask order:

“My observation in the past week has been that the public doesn’t take this mask mandate seriously since the governor immediately did away with his own enforcement directive.

“Yet, in his Wednesday press conference, the governor is saying that he thinks we can slow the virus spread with ‘good enforcement on the ground with the guidelines that are there right now.’

“What in the world is ‘good enforcement’? Who is doing the enforcement of this mask mandate? Since he has explicitly removed any criminal penalty from the mandate, enforcement is virtually non-existent.

“If Governor Holcomb wants to take this pandemic seriously like he claims to do, then he needs to lead this state and enforce the measures that will keep Hoosiers out of the hospital. During a health emergency, the executive branch has the power to protect public health in the best ways it sees fit. Our state needs this strong leadership, and we need an enforceable plan to keep the virus at bay.

“Masks are proven to slow the spread of this disease. So why is our governor afraid to enforce protections that we know will save lives?”