IN schools to remain closed for remainder of the school year, more in today's state press conference

In Thursday’s daily press conference, the biggest news came regarding schools, but that wasn’t all that was updated or discussed. People have asked about whether the state’s restrictions on restaurants, which comes to an end on Monday, April 6, will be extended. Gov. Eric Holcomb said he would comment on that during Friday’s press conference.

PPEs

Indiana State Department of Health Commissioner informed the state the state is continuing to package and distribute personal protective equipment from the strategic national stockpile.

“Today, I had the opportunity to do one of the most uplifting things I’ve been able to do in the last four to six weeks, and that was to go out to Stockfield and watch our Indiana National Guard, our Indiana State Police, our Department of Homeland Security and my emergency preparedness team from the ISDH working together to pick and repackage all of the equipment and supplies we have received from our strategic national stockpile,” she said. “It was our third and last, probably, stockpile PPE we’ve received, but it was wonderful to see so many Hoosiers working together for the good of our front-line personnel who are taking care of our COVID-19 patients … I wish all of the health care personnel across the state who will be receiving this could have been there so see the looks on their faces and feel what I felt, which is how very proud they were to be playing a part of this bigger picture of addressing this pandemic across our state.”

She repeated there is no indication the state will get any more shipments from the strategic national stockpile.

“The strategic national stockpile was designed to be able to help a few hard-hit cities, a few states having a disaster, not to help all 50 states having a reaction or having to respond to a pandemic across all of our states,” she said. “We are continuing to work to obtain as much personal protective equipment as we can, whether that is homemade here in Indiana or that we can buy across the United States and across the world. We know needs will continue to increase across the state in the upcoming weeks and days, and we are doing our very best to be prepared for that.”

Testing

The state now sits at more than 3,000 positive cases of COVID-19, with 78 deaths. More than 16,200 people had been tested as of Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m. Box said more than 700 people were in hospital ICU beds with either positive or suspected cases of COVID-19.

She said strike teams are continuing to go into long-term care facilities and correctional facilities, testing more than 300 people, with more than 200 of those tests being in long-term care facilities and 76 so far, coming back positive.

“This could have been a worker or it could have been a resident,” she said.

Masks

The US Surgeon General has asked the CDC to recommend the public wear masks when outside their homes to prevent transmission. Box continued to say this wasn’t necessary.

“I want to emphasize that we should not be out in public for very long,” she said. “Just short trips to the grocery, the pharmacy, to run across the street to check on Grandma and Grandpa. Those medical masks need to be saved for our providers, our front-line people who are taking care of COVID-19 patients. If there are masks that individuals are making, I think that’s a fabulous thing if people want to wear them, but right now, we don’t have enough masks for 6.6 million Hoosiers in our state.”

If people do decide to wear masks, she said she would encourage them to wear one of the fabric, homemade masks. N95 and surgical masks still need to be saved for healthcare and emergency workers.

“We can all help reduce our risk of transmission by avoiding touching our faces, by making sure we are socially distancing and continuing to, please, just stay home a little longer.”

Box later clarified that people are still encouraged to go for walks (while maintaining proper social distancing) and still utilize things like state parks to go for a hike or other exercise to maintain their mental and physical health during this time. Playgrounds and, obviously, large groups of people at parks, are still strongly cautioned against.

Schools

Holcomb and State Superintendent of Public Education Jennifer McCormick announced all schools would be closed for the remainder of the year, and students would continue to be educated via remote learning.

Holcomb signed an executive order on Thursday declaring schools would be required to provide remote instruction until schools log 160 days for the 2019-2020 school year (typically, schools must provide 180 days of instruction), or at least 20 additional days of remote learning between Thursday and the end of the school year. For schools taking the second option, but still fall short of the 160 instructional day requirement, the governor authorized the IDOE to waive the additional days necessary to reach 160 instructional days.

The order also allows McCormick to waive, suspend, and/or modify graduation requirements “as necessary and appropriate to ensure all seniors in the 2020 graduation cohort have the flexibility needed to earn an Indiana diploma with the designation for which they were on-track to graduate prior to the closer of Indiana’s K-12 schools on March 19, 2020.”

“Even though teachers and students have been apart these past few weeks, they’ve still been together in different ways,” said Holcomb. “I’ve been so impressed by the creativity and perserverance both are displaying, the instruction that has been occurring and will need to continue … The last thing we want to do is kid ourselves about our kids’ health and safety.”

McCormick thanked healthcare workers for helping families and students stay safe and teachers who have been reworking their plans for the rest of the year to accommodate the constraints of COVID-19.

“I want to thank you for your efforts for our students,” she said. “Hang in there; you’re doing an amazing job and we need you to meet us half way.”

She also addressed families frustrated by the situation at home.

“We understand this is a hardship on your family and I certainly do not want to minimize that, but it’s going to take a collective effort to save lives, and schools must do their part,” she said.

How schools meet the instruction requirements will be up to the local school districts, McCormick said — eLearning, expanded learning, extended learning or a combination of those three. Schools will be required to submit a continuous learning plan by April 17, detailing how they plan to proceed with the rest of the school year.

“The Department is committed to working with schools to make sure that those plan have some type of guidelines to follow, but it also signals to families, and to students and to our policymakers what instruction is happening across the state and what that looks like,” she said. “Our goal in this very difficult situation is that students have some type of continuous learning. It may not all be eLearning, but we’re hopeful we can offer some type of continuous learning to all of our kids.”

McCormick later acknowledged that things can be very tricky for families with limited means.

“Parents are working from home, have three kids who are all eLearning, have one computer, some access, or they’re being told to go to McDonald’s and figure it out and get access there, so it’s tricky,” she said. “We also have people who are doing paper-pencil packets, and we now have the issue of families not feeling comfortable with that exchange because of the physical part of that. There’s no one-size-fits-all with districts. We’re very concerns with districts who have basically closed and are offering no supports. That’s very limited, but we do have some who are out across the state. We’re targeting those schools to say, ‘How can we be better partners?’ and we have some philanthropic folks out there who have said, ‘How can we help?’ That is an area we can really use some help in.”

She said another concern is that all supplies for remote learning seem to be on back-order for schools that weren’t already equipped to do so.

“We understand the concern and are working hard to address that,” she said.

Seniors and their families are concerned about how COVID-19 will affect their chances for graduation.

“Graduates, our goal is to get you across that stage,” said McCormick. “We know this isn’t easy. You’re sacrificing a lot of things you were looking forward to for your senior year and I am very cognizant of that. I have a senior at home as well and in college and he is forgoing a lot of things he was looking forward to as well. I personally understand that and acknowledge this can be difficult.”

She said seniors will be required to earn their credits and any course they are enrolled in will count toward those credits.

“If you have earned your credits up to Semester 7, or in middle school, and are enrolled in courses that will get you across that stage, you will be recognized as a 2020 graduate at the conclusion of your instructional year,” said McCormick.

She said students who have exams required to graduate, they will be waived. They must have earned and enrolled credits.

McCormick said if people are upset at the missed milestones of their students, they should be mad at her, not at their local schools.

“If you are upset at anybody because of this situation, you can be mad at me and please target that at me, because I need you to be good partners with your local schools,” she said. “They are going to do the best they can about being creative with what that looks like. I know I’ve heard from people that you’re missing your proms and your graduation ceremonies and I understand those milestone moments are important and I’m not trying to diminish that at all. I think schools are trying to get creative and now that this announcement has been made, they’re going to have some tough decisions and they’re going to have to look at some options regarding what that looks like. It’s going to look different.”

For students in grades 9-11 or in middle school and earning credits, they will need to continue to earn those credits in a traditional manner.

“The issue of just being enrolled to get the credit, that does not apply to those who are earning high school credits in middle school or in grades 9, 10 and 11.”

She said there are also test-out options for students to prove they have passed courses and deserve credits, but whether a student earning high school credits, aside from seniors, have done work worthy of earning those credits will be up to local schools.

“Our local schools are going to issue as many credits as they can based on whether students earn them, so that’s our charge, to continue that education,” she said. “Do I think we’ll have gaps? Absolutely. I’m not going to pretend we’re not going to have gaps. Now it becomes how we’re going to address those gaps. In grades K-11, it will be our new target to say, ‘What are we going to do with those skills gaps that have come over the past few months and will continue on through the end of the year, and then our concern is summer and into next fall. We know we will have some work to do, but our schools are very aware of that. We’re looking at capacity and this may look different going forward … We’ll know more on April 17 when we get those continuous learning plans in.”

When it comes to teacher licensing, McCormick said some requirements have been altered. The executive order has extended the CPR requirement to Sept. 1. Some emergency teaching permit requirements will be waived and rules for school buss passenger evacuation drills will be waived.

“At a time when we obviously need educators, we want to make it so all those barriers are taken down to get folks in the classroom as soon as we can get back into the classroom,” she said.
“I know the news I delivered today for some of you is not the news you’ve been looking for, but again, all of us have to do our part,” said McCormick. “I appreciate the support we have received from educators and the support from families,” she said.

She said families can still look forward to local schools giving them guidance for how each school is proceeding.

McCormick said, depending on how long this situation lasts, summer school and next fall may look different for schools, and the state knows it needs to target its services to those most in need.

“The federal government is looking at sending some help to the states and we will be working with the governor’s office to determine what those services look like. Our goal is to target as much as we can to those at-risk populations [special needs, homeless, ELL students, etc). Our districts have been working really hard to make sure our students who are identified in those populations are receiving those services they deserve and that they need. We understand the concern. There is no magic answer to this right now. It is very complex; it is very difficult. Our team’s charge is to identify those needs and get them the resources they need.”

Unemployment

Holcomb said, nationwide, 6.6 million people have filed for unemployment due to the COVID crisis. In Indiana, Workforce Development Commissioner Fred Payne said 146,243 initial unemployment claims were filed the week ending March 28.

“It seems like on a daily basis, we’re having to adjust to this new, unique atmosphere we’re in, and we’re constantly reminded of just how unique it is,” said Payne.

Prior to March of this year, the highest number of unemployment claims filed in a one-week period was about 28,000 in the week ending Jan. 10, 2009. The week ending March 14, 2020, saw 2,596 filings, followed by 59,755 in the week ending March 21, and then the more than 145,000 in the week ending March 28.

The highest number of unemployment claims the state had received in a month’s time before this was 157,000.

“The number of claims we once saw in that one-month period, at the highest point of our downturn, is what we may be seeing now in a weekly period,” said Payne.

He said his office has fielded an unprecedented number of calls — more than 210,000 phone interactions already this week. Last week, they had roughly 158,000 calls.

“The weeks prior to that paled in comparison,” said Payne. “These numbers show, not only the volume of claims and calls are unmatched in history, but the rapid increase is unmatched as well. Our goal is to make sure people are able to file their claims and we administer them as efficiently as possible.”

Payne said his department as updated its infrastructure, and continues to do so, to accommodate the calls and claims and the types of calls and claims they are receiving. They are also eliminating the one-week waiting period and all late fees. The waiver for these is retroactive to the week of March 8 and benefits will be paid for the first week you are eligible.

“Over the last two weeks, we’ve made more than 169,000 unemployment insurance payments,” he said. “Next week, we are rolling out an additional way for people to apply for benefits over the phone. We’re aware people may need this additional option, so we are providing that, but the online computer option will remain the fastest way to apply.”

You can file for unemployment insurance benefits using a computer or smart phone at Unemployment.IN.gov.

Payne said many are having long wait times or are unable to even get through at all. To address this, the state is hiring more people to work at their call center and assist with claims administration. They started hiring a few weeks ago in anticipation of this increase.

Payne said 77 people have been hired so far, and the first wave of new hires will start work next week.

He also requested potential claimants review material on the website prior to calling, saying many of the questions they’re asking can be answered there.

“We update the site almost daily, adjusting to the most common questions people are asking,” said Payne.

He said the state is working to implement the add-ons of unemployment insurance coverage granted by the recently signed, federal CARES Act, which will extend unemployment benefits to those who wouldn’t normally qualify, like freelancers, independent contractors, gig economy workers, the self-employed and those with a limited work history.

“Within 24 hours [of the CARES Act being signed last week], our unemployment team here executed agreements so the state of Indiana could be eligible for every potential benefit at the onset,” said Payne, adding the law includes another $600 per week for individuals for four months.

He said the federal government is working on guidelines for states to use to implement this new coverage. Regarding the additional $600, this may not occur sooner than May.

Payne said those who will now be covered under the CARES Act should know “we are working to get those benefits to you as quickly as possible … We will inform you when … we are ready to process those applications.”

Information sessions are available to the public, including several webinars planned and Facebook Live session scheduled for next week.

Payne clarified if people who were not previously eligible for unemployment try to file right now, the system will recognize them as being applicants under the old system, which did not accept independent contractors.

“We are having to update our system, and when the federal guidance comes out, we will implement those,” he said. “If an individual goes now to our system, they’re an independent contractor or self employed, and they apply, they will get denied. We’re working to make sure we have that denial in sort of a holding pattern so those individuals don’t have to reapply once those federal guidelines are disclosed.”