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Gov. Mike Pence Monday signed an executive order that extends the public health emergency in Scott County he declared last month. The order comes as the rural southeastern Indiana community continues to grapple with an unprecedented HIV outbreak with almost all cases linked to injection drug abuse.
“We have no higher priority than the health and safety of our citizens,” Pence said in a statement announcing the executive order. “While we’ve made progress in identifying and treating those affected by this heartbreaking epidemic, the public health emergency continues and so must our efforts to fight it.”
The extension comes four days before Pence’s original declaration by executive order was set to lapse on April 24. The new order extends all provisions of the original declaration for an additional 30 days, including the facilitation of a short-term needle exchange.
As of April 17 the Indiana State Department of Health had identified 128 confirmed cases of the virus in Scott County with 6 preliminary positives. Scott County usually sees less than five new HIV cases per year.
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