An estimated 186,000 Hoosiers have or had COVID-19. That number is from initial results of a statewide study by the Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI.
The Fairbanks School tested 4,611 people around the end of April, randomly sampled to replicate the demographics of the state’s population. And the prevalence of the disease was around 2.8 percent.
“This finding … strongly suggests that our social distancing policies played a critical role in curbing the spread of the virus and containing it to within households, as opposed to within the community,” says Nir Menachemi, who helped lead the study.
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The state has now loosened most of those social distancing policies.
The Fairbanks study also suggests nearly half of all Hoosiers who are positive for the virus don’t show symptoms.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box says the results underscore the need to wear a mask when in public.
“I really think that that would be a policy thing that I hope that some of our businesses take to heart,” Box says.
State guidelines do not require wearing a mask in public.
Contact Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.
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