Vaccinations Rise, More Counties Move to Blue

The script on 20-20 thanks for joining us tonight-- i'm brian miller.

We start things off with 44 news reporter valerie lyons-- with a closer look at what the blue rating means the hoosier state just crossed another covid-19 milestone -- "the number of fully vaccinated hoosiers surpassed the number of covid-19 cases we have had since march 6 of 2020."

As positivity rates continue to drop across the state -- vanderburgh is one of 42 counties now in the blue advisory level -- and local health officials say -- our rate of vaccinations is keeping the community on the right track -- "we're making really good progress, we have given over 78,000 doses of the vaccine so far so that's fantastic news in the past few months, so we're very happy with how that's going."

And now that we're in the blue -- we can say goodbye to another set of restrictions -- capacity limits no longer apply to events and social gatherings -- but with guidelines still in place -- getting back to business as usual -- might take a little more time -- "that's still the challenge, obviously we're trying to get to be, everything to be as normal as it can but it's still really important to wear the masks, to stay 6 feet apart, to socially distance, to avoid really large crowds, to wash your hands."

But the more groups to become eligible for the vaccine -- the faster we can get back to normal -- and with appointments now opening to educators and support staff -- it's yet another leap closer to the finish line -- "that's what we're really excited about as this opens up to more and more people and a higher percentage of the population becomes vaccinated, life can come a little bit closer back to what it used to be in terms of normalcy."

Pre-k through 12 teachers -- child care workers and other support staff can receive their shot at any state site starting monday -- hoosiers 40 and older are next in line -- vl --44news.

The blue- rating-- not the only good news -- in the fight against the