Old News: COVID closes everything
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Bankers Life (now Gainbridge) sits empty after the pandemic led to the cancelation of the 2020 Big Ten Men's Tournament in Indianapolis. Photo: Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
On this day five years ago, Marion County residents got their first dose of the gathering restrictions, school closures and major event cancellations that would define their lives for years to come.
Why it matters: Half a decade later, Hoosiers are still feeling the effects of the pandemic, and life has yet to completely return to the way it was prior to March 2020.
Driving the (old) news: By March 12, 2020, the state's count of confirmed COVID-19 cases had climbed to 12 and, before the day was out, we'd see the first dominos fall in a cascade of decisions that would quickly and dramatically change how we lived.
Just after midnight, newly-elected House Speaker Todd Huston told reporters that lawmakers were watching their phones throughout the previous day as the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
- The House adjourned for the 2020 session just as the clocks switched to March 12 and Huston said "I think we just have to see what happens."
- He also told reporters he had "total confidence" in then-Gov. Eric Holcomb and that he trusted him to make the right decision about limiting public gatherings — something other states had started doing but Indiana had yet to do at the time.
Holcomb issued a directive to limit non-essential gatherings to no more than 250 people later that day.
Just like this year, Indy was hosting the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament.
- Rutgers and Michigan were pulled from the floor during pregame warm-ups for the second day of play.
- About 15 minutes before their noon tip-off, the conference announced the remainder of the tournament was canceled.
Zoom out: That same day, the NCAA confirmed that the Division I men's and women's basketball tournaments had been canceled.
Following Holcomb's afternoon announcement restricting gatherings, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett held an evening press conference, announcing city employees would begin working remotely, suspending all senior Parks Department programming, and granting IMPD the permission to issue summonses instead of arrests for nonviolent misdemeanors.
- Local hospitals and nursing facilities began restricting visitors to immediate family members over the age of 18.
- Hogsett also announced that all of Marion County's public and private schools would close from March 16 to April 5. They didn't reopen until the following school year.