WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Good afternoon. This is the Local Brief for Tuesday, July 14th.
Your Daily Covid-19 Briefing
662 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Indiana on Monday, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
The new cases represent a 35 percent increase in average positive cases over the past week. The state department of health also attributed two new deaths in the state to the virus. Locally, Monroe County saw its second highest spike in new cases to date, with 15 new cases reported on Monday.
Wait-times for free COVID-19 test results in Indiana may take as long as 4 to 6 days, according to Logistics Health Incorporated, the company that schedules the free health department tests.
The free testing site in Bloomington, operated by Optumserve, has been forced to shut down repeatedly due to excessive heat in the testing site building, which does not have air-conditioning.
If your test has been canceled due to hot weather, you can still get a test by going to the site at an earlier, cooler time, and presenting your patient I.D. The Optum testing site is in the National Guard building on South Walnut.
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Defense Attorney Disputes Hate Crime Allegations at Press Conference on Monday
David Hennessy, the attorney for Sean Purdy and Caroline McCord, two of the people under investigation for their involvement in the July 4th racist attack on Vauhxx Booker, gave a press conference on Monday.
While acknowledging that videos of the incident show people making, what he called, “racially insensitive [statements]” he disputed Mr. Booker’s and other witnesses’ claims that Booker was the victim of a hate crime.
The attorney did not comment on why his client, Sean Purdy was seen on video of the incident, pinning Booker to a tree and telling witnesses to go away.
