This is the WFHB Local News for Wednesday, January 20th, 2021.

Later in the program, Beacon Inc. opened a low-barrier emergency winter shelter today for people experiencing homelessness in Bloomington. The low barrier-shelter opens after two city evictions from the encampment at Seminary Park. More in today’s feature report.

But first, your local news brief:

Monroe County is averaging about 50 new positive cases of Covid-19 per day. That's according to the Indiana State Department of Health.

Although experts consider the department’s statistics to likely be undercounted, Monroe County has seen over 9,200 cases of Covid-19, since testing began.

Indiana University reports that over 4,200 individuals tested positive on its Bloomington Campus alone–meaning that the university is responsible for more than 45 percent of the county’s total cases.

The campus’ numbers haven’t budged much, since students went home early at end of the fall semester, while the county’s case count has continued to grow. It’s unclear to what degree the university contributed to community Covid-19 spread in the county.

About 110 Monroe County residents are known to have died because of complications arising from Covid-19. At this point, Indiana University has not released statistics about its Covid deaths.

The State of Indiana released new data on Covid-19 spread in its schools on Monday. As of now, over 22,000 students have tested positive, while about 10,000 teachers and staff have tested positive at well. Locally, Bloomington South High School has recorded just shy of 50 cases. Bloomington High School North has recorded about half of that.

Surrounding Counties, including Brown, Green, Owen, Lawrence, Jackson, and Morgan all have positivity rates at about 20 to 30 percent. Brown County Health and Senior Living, an assisted living facility in Nashville, Indiana has been hit harder by Covid-19 than any other area long term care facility. It has seen just under 90 positive resident cases, 20 of them have died. The facility has seen 50 members of its staff test positive as well.

Nursing homes have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, but there may be some light at the end of the tunnel; Indiana residents 70-years-old and older are now eligible to sign up for a Covid-19 vaccine. While it's welcome news to many seniors, it’s unclear what effect Indiana’s vaccine strategy will have. Federal guidelines recommend that states prioritize vaccinating various occupational groups, like healthcare workers, before seniors, but Indiana, and a number of other states have chosen to go a different route.

Under the Trump administration’s leadership, the United States did not have unified pandemic response policies. This will change with the new Biden Administration’s Covid response plan. The administration plans on changing the Federal guidelines so that more people will be eligible to get the vaccine. It also plans to mobilize the National Guard and utilize the Federal Emergency Management Agency to aid with the vaccination effort. In a notable shift away from Trump’s policies, the Biden Administration will also issue a nation-wide mask wearing mandate.

Public health experts expect the highly contagious British strain of the Covid-19 virus, to become the dominant strain across the U.S. by the month of March. As people around the world are experiencing mask and distancing fatigue, experts recommend doubling down on safety precautions by reducing time indoors with people who are not in your, so-called, “bubble,” and by wearing a three-layer mask if you have to go into an public indoor space.

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