UPDATED: 6:25 P.M.
Tippecanoe County Health Officer Dr. Jeremy Adler said there are no confirmed coronavirus cases in the county, after Indiana’s first confirmed case in Marion County was announced earlier Friday.
“Due to this confirmed case, we are providing recommendations to the community to protect persons at higher risk of serious illness due to the virus,” Adler said.
Adler said the risk of severe illness begins to increase at 50 years of age, with a spike in that risk for people over 80, and for those who have underlying medical issues that weaken their immune systems.
“We recommend that persons who are at higher risk avoid gatherings where large numbers of people are within arm’s length of one another,” Adler said. “This would not include typical office environments, grocery stores, or shopping centers, where it is unusual for large numbers of people to be within arm’s length of one another.”
He also advised facilities with senior populations to pay increased attention to symptoms of acute respiratory illness among residents, staff, and visitors, and to follow Centers for Disease Control recommendationson the proper cleaning of surfaces.
For the lower-risk population, Adler urged continued attention to measures such as hand washing and staying home if sick.
He reiterated that there were no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Tippecanoe County on Friday afternoon.
“The main message today is that we need to remain calm, that life is going to go on as usual, but we all need to also be cautious and be thinking about these things,” Adler said.
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The Tippecanoe County Health Department declared a county public health emergency after the first case of coronavirus in Indiana was confirmed Friday.
Indiana’s State Health Commissioner Kris Box announced a Marion County resident with COVID-19 is in isolation, and Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb declared a public health emergency for the state.
In a statement, the county health department said it was releasing expanded guidelines for at-risk county residents.
“We ask for the public’s help in sharing these recommendations, staying calm, and following prior recommendationsissued by the Indiana Department of Health and the CDC,” the statement said.
The health department will be holding a press conference Friday afternoon.
This story will be updated.