Here is a summary of COVID-19 milestones in Hancock County over the past year:
March 6, 2020
Indiana confirms its first COVID-19 case, in Marion County. Gov. Eric Holcomb issues an executive order declaring a public health disaster emergency.
March 11
World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a pandemic.
March 12
The Hancock County Sheriff’s Department reports a jailer has tested positive for COVID-19. All four Hancock County school districts call off classes for Friday, March 13. Schools will not reopen until the beginning of the next school year, in late July and early August.
March 16
Holcomb issues an executive order, part of which requires restaurants to close their dining rooms and only remain open for carry-out, delivery and drive-thru. Hancock Regional Hospital opens a COVID-19 triage clinic in Brandywine Plaza.
March 19
Holcomb issues an executive order closing schools through May 1. The next day, he issues an order postponing the state’s primary election to June 2.
March 21
Hancock County confirms its first COVID-19 case.
March 23
Holcomb issues an executive order directing Hoosiers to stay home through April 6 — an action that will be extended multiple times in coming months. The order also outlines exceptions, essential activities and social distancing requirements.
March 24
The Hancock County Health Department announces the county’s first death from COVID-19 after receiving a positive test result for the individual. The Indiana State Department of Health would later report that the county’s first COVID-19 death occurred on March 21.
April 2
Holcomb issues an executive order closing schools and requiring them to provide remote instruction for the remainder of the academic year.
April 3
All over Hancock County, acts of kindness are helping people cope with the unfolding crisis. In Greenfield Tom and Franny Miller give away hundreds of pounds of beef in a drive-up food distribution. Mt. Vernon High School teachers make a video montage for their missed students. Dozens of people park on the top level of Hancock Regional Hospital’s parking garage to pray for the staff and patients. Fortville businesses pick up residents’ April water and sewer bills. The Greenfield Elks Lodge serves up numerous free spaghetti lunches.
April 7
Hancock Regional Hospital, anticipating a surge in infections, sets up a COVID-19 unit capable of treating 16 patients. Fifty beds are set up on the second floor of Gateway Hancock Health at Mt. Comfort Road and Interstate 70 for a potential overflow of COVID-19 patients.
April 8
Hancock County exceeds 100 known cases of COVID-19.
April 25
An outbreak of COVID-19 at Greenfield Healthcare Center results in the deaths of two residents at the long-term care facility. They are the first of what will become a toll of more than 20 fatalities in coming weeks, illustrating the vulnerability of people in settings such as nursing homes.
May 1
Indiana announces a five-stage plan for relaxing stay-at-home directives and reopening the economy while continuing to respond to the disease.
May 12
Hancock County’s COVID-19 deaths rise to 20.
May 21
After earlier pushing back the start date of the Hancock County 4-H Fair to July, organizers decide to drastically scale back the event. The fair — minus the midway, food vendors thousands of visitors — winds up being limited to 4-H members and their families.
June 2
A relatively small number of new infections reported daily over the course of a few weeks raises optimism that the pandemic is fading. Hancock County records its 340th infection and has lost 27 people to COVID-19, the majority of whom are nursing home residents.
June 27
With schools scheduled to open in four weeks, the county’s four school districts send a letter to parents that outline steps they intend to take to reopen the schools safely. Those measures include making sure everyone in the buildings wear masks, aggressive sanitizing efforts and strictly enforced distancing.
July 16
The Riley Festival, a staple of Greenfield’s calendar for half a century, is canceled over concerns about COVID-19.
July 20
Two popular Greenfield restaurants, Ponderosa and Florida Cracker BBQ, decide to close for good amid dwindling business because of the pandemic. They are among a number of restaurants and other businesses throughout the county that won’t survive the year.
July 22
Gov. Eric Holcomb announces a statewide mandate to wear facial coverings in public. In Hancock County, 528 people have contracted the virus, and 36 have died.
July 31
After a summer of painstaking planning to safely reopen schools, the first day of classes at Greenfield-Central is marked almost immediately by the news that a junior high school student had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Aug. 22
A total of 738 Hancock County residents have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since March. The county’s death toll is 41.
Sept. 5
The state health department rolls out a color-coded map that reveals at a glance the transmission rate of COVID-19 county by county. It will become a key measure of counties’ efforts to thwart the spread of the coronavirus in coming months. The colors indicate a range from least severe to most severe: blue, yellow, orange and red. The county’s first measure puts it in the yellow, or moderate, category of community spread.
Sept. 12
At the six-month mark of the pandemic, Hancock County has recorded 858 total cases of COVID-19 and 42 deaths.
Oct. 10
Weeks after deciding to cancel the 2020 Riley Festival, organizers put on a smaller celebration, called “Hometown Together,” to boost downtown businesses. The event includes a commemoration of James Whitcomb Riley and promotions to encourage people to come to downtown Greenfield.
Oct. 17
Infections begin to creep upward, as the county’s rolling seven-day average of cases doubles to 13. That figure will grow exponentially in coming weeks.
Oct. 24
The phrase “COVID fatigue” enters the lexicon as families begin thinking about colder weather and the pandemic’s potential impact on holiday celebrations. Gov. Eric Holcomb, in an interview with the Daily Reporter, encourages families to be careful with holiday gatherings. The county’s health officer, Dr. Sandra Aspy, says it’s important to follow restrictions to protect those who are most vulnerable to infections.
Oct. 28
The Indiana National Guard announces it will deploy 1,350 troops to long-term care facilities around the state to assist depleted staffs with care of residents, who are among the most vulnerable in the pandemic. Hancock County’s facilities will benefit from the reinforcements.
Nov. 7
Hancock County sets a record for new infections for the third day in a row amid an alarming spike in cases. The county’s total tops 1,500 cases, and Dr. Sandra Aspy, the county health officer, says it appears to public is getting lax in adhering to health guidelines. The county’s color-coded metric is at the “orange,” or second-worst, level of community spread.
Nov. 24
Golden LivingCenter Brandywine becomes the second nursing home in the county to suffer a severe outbreak of COVID-19, as it reports the vast majority of its 94 residents and nearly two dozen employees have been infected.
Nov. 28
The daily case count shatters a record, as 126 new infections are reported. Fifteen patients are being cared for in Hancock Regional Hospital’s COVID unit.
Dec. 7
As cases and deaths mount amid a surge of infections that had been predicted for months, plans begin to coalesce for the arrival of the first vaccines to thwart COVID-19. Hancock Regional Hospital makes plans to obtain a freezer capable of storing the new Pfizer vaccine as federal regulators near approval for the drug.
Dec. 10
Hancock County is downgraded to “red,” or most severe, level of community spread for the coronavirus. Almost every other county in the state is considered at high risk of spreading it.
Dec. 17
Hancock Regional Hospital takes delivery of the first 975 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to come to Hancock County.
Dec. 18
Rob Miller, director of respiratory therapy at Hancock Regional Hospital, becomes an answer to a trivia question for posterity: Who was the first person in Hancock County to receive a COVID-19 vaccine? Miller is one of about 200 front-line health-care workers to get a shot on the first day of the vaccine mobilization in Hancock County.
Dec. 30
Hancock County hits a sobering milestone: Total cases top 5,000. It had taken until October, about seven months into the pandemic, for the county to tally its first 1,000 known COVID-19 cases. The county passed 2,000 in November and had 3,077 as of Dec. 2. Less than two weeks later, the county exceeded 4,000.
Jan. 9, 2021
In a week in which the county sets another daily record for infections, with 141, the vaccine campaign expands to people in long-term care facilities.
Feb. 2
The age threshold for vaccine eligibility is lowered to 65 in Indiana as more doses come online. In Hancock County, as total deaths from COVID-19 top 100, multiple vaccination sites open, including at Meijer in McCordsville and Kroger in Greenfield.
Feb. 6
After a harrowing post-holidays surge of infections, case counts begin to drop. In the first several days of February, the daily count is lower than at any time since November. In the first 50 days of the vaccine campaign, more than 9,000 people have received shots in Hancock County.
Feb. 12
Walmart announces it will begin giving vaccine shots in Greenfield.
Feb. 24
The state lowers the age limit for vaccinations to 60. The expansion encompasses even more members of a group vulnerable to the novel coronavirus. More than 95% of Hancock County’s COVID-19 deaths and more than 92% of Indiana’s have been age 60 and older.
March 3
The state drops the age limit for vaccine eligibility to 55. A day later, the age limit is lowered again, to 50.
March 10
Officials at Greenfield-Central and Mt. Vernon schools announce they will pull back from their hybrid schedules, inviting all students back into their high schools starting on April 5. G-C will still keep Wednesdays as a virtual-learning day, but the move will be a milestone: Schools countywide will be mostly open for the first time in a year.
