COVID-19 cases are increasing and a number of your questions asked about where cases are originating, rapid test availability, and religious service mask exceptions. We also talk early voting wait times, the canopy of lights celebration, halloween, and more.
On this week’s installment of Ask The Mayor, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton addresses these issues and more during a Zoom event Tuesday. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU. Here are some highlights.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: I want to read this headline we had on our new site yesterday, " Monroe County COVID-19 positivity rate has grown 100% through October." So it was 1.5% October 1 and Monday 2.9%. Back in September 6, it was 11.8%. So obviously, if you look at the bigger picture, it's better, but starting to increase again. Monroe County did stay with the previous restrictions, but the numbers are still rising. Why is that happening?
Hamilton: Well, Joe, we don't know for sure. I mean, I think the big picture is, while we had 35,000 or more students coming back to campus in this community in August, which was of great concern, we did see some rise from that.
But with the controls that we've got in place, we've definitely done better than the state, and certainly better than we feared we might have done with that kind of influx. Now, the hospital has seen some significant increase, though much of that is from out of county. We're continuing to do testing in our sewer system with that experimental testing. IU, of course, is doing an enormous amount of testing and those sources help us try to identify threats.
It is possible that we'd have to take some more controlling steps that is changing the size of gathering limits, again, reduce them, or take other steps if we need to. But for right now, if we look at the basic data, including how the school corporations are doing, how companies are doing, how the overall background incidents, testing shows us, we're doing okay, but we need to be very vigilant for it.
Vicki by email: Where are our positive COVID-19 cases coming from? Is it widespread? Is it localized in certain areas?
Hamilton: So we know that there was a real surge of cases in congregate living settings in Greek houses. Those who frequented Greek houses early in the semester. We know we have more young people getting cases here than we did before. We do identify some physical locations in the city through the sewer testing, though they're not precise. They're kind of general areas of the city.
And we're still really, frankly, trying to understand the science. The short answer is we really don't. We do contact tracing to find it's typically an incident that happened. I do believe we have pretty good evidence that suggests there is not a lot of transmission happening either on campus for Indiana University or our school corporations, it seems. So it seems to be more happening in household or other gatherings that are happening, which is one reason we want to keep that 15 person limit on private social gatherings - really not do what the state has done.
Barbara by email: Are we suffering more because people aren't applying the social distancing role, or is it being in large crowds? And is there a target age?
Hamilton: Well, we're trying to dial this multi factor thermostat to control this, we do believe that mask wearing significantly helps. The evidence shows that we do believe that. So physical distancing six feet or more, definitely helps reduce the transmission of the virus. We also do believe in science suggests that super spreader events, gatherings of people are a really bad idea.
John by email: Is the IU student community being separated out from the rest of the county when the schools make decisions related to their status level?
Hamilton: Well, I don't know that I can answer exactly for that. The schools definitely look at a lot of different sources of data. I'm sure they do look at the IU data separately from the health data. But we got to remember the state health data incorporates all of the testing and information from IU. And if you're worried about background and community and community spread, you've got to pay attention to everybody in the community. So I imagine they look at that most closely.
Audrey via email: You may have information about the new downtown COVID testing site that is being developed. Will the new site offer rapid tests? And are there any places in Bloomington for rapid tests?
Hamilton: We're going to add a second site very shortly, that does not do that kind of 30 minute test, it's less accurate. We do the testing that takes 24 to 48 hours, but gives you a better result. I know IU has used the rapid test, they used it when students were coming back.
I'm sure there are some places that do rapid testing in town, private labs and others, or you can do some online. But be careful because some of those are just not that accurate. And one of the things we want to remind people is you kind of have to act as if you are infectious all the time, you just don't know even if you get a negative test. I had two negative test, but found out later I was sick. You can get negative tests and still be infectious, you can feel fine and not even see any reason to get a test and still be infectious.
Dan via email: Why does the mask order exempt religious services where there is singing or chanting? The CDC says that six feet distance is not sufficient for singing?
Hamilton: Well, it's a good question that comes from the state rule. We did not put in a separate rule locally on that, though, I will say I've met with faith leaders some months ago, and they were extremely conservative and careful about exposing their members to this disease. Many of them are elderly and have some risk factors. So while the rule at the state level does, I think you're right to ask is that really the smartest thing?
I think in practice, most religious communities are being very careful. Many churches, I know mine is still not having in person services, because you're right - singing and speaking particularly loudly is a way that the virus is spread more more easily. So it's something to be very careful about. If I were governor, I'm not sure I would have that order. But that's what it is for the state.
Laura via email: Why didn't the city set any official trick or treating hours or guidelines? I'm concerned kids will come whenever they want, not know how to trick or treat safely. If the city can enforce safety rules and protocols for other activities, why not trick or treating?
Hamilton: Well, it's a good question. We basically felt that this year's Halloween needed to be driven by the health department and health concerns. It is true. Traditionally, the city has set hours and we've had people ask us to change the day to be observed of Halloween. And I typically haven't done that. But look, it's a free country, you can you can celebrate Halloween as you choose under the guidelines that are there. But we've encouraged and the health department has encouraged everybody to follow the CDC guidelines, which suggests that door to door trick or treating is not a smart thing to do this year.
Given that the CDC recommends against that door to door trick or treating, we didn't think we should set hours for that, frankly, because we don't want to encourage it and say it's a good thing to do between x and y. Each household and some neighborhoods and some streets are going to be talking to each other and figure out what their what they feel comfortable with.
Hren: Early voting has been huge here in Monroe County. I've heard waits from 30 to 90 minutes. Are you getting any reports and how that process is moving along? And what's your take on these 90 minute waits to vote?
Hamilton: Well, I understand something in the order of 1,000 people a day are voting. It's terrific to see the interest in actions and I encourage everybody to vote, it is frustrating that people have to wait to vote. That should not be the case anywhere in America. We should make voting as easy and as efficient as soon as humanly possible. And I know people are working hard to make that the case.
Hren: I do want to ask about the canopy of lights next month, is that going to be virtual?
Hamilton: Well, I understand the big event will not happen in person. That's an event that's run by downtown Bloomington collaborating with the courthouse and such. I think I expect we'll have an event and I'm ready to participate the day after Thanksgiving. It's always such a wonderful event. I believe the lights will happen. But I don't think we're going to have thousands of people gathering down on the Courthouse Square. It's just not smart to do that. We're actually kind of concerned about Thanksgiving as a holiday, that could be a real spreader event. So we want everyone to be very careful and think hard about that. And again, you have to assume that anyone can be infectious at any time without knowing it and behave accordingly.
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