Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and Marion County Public Health Department (MCPHD) Director Dr. Virginia Caine gave free face coverings Thursday to families through a partnership with Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana. The free face coverings were distributed in support of the countys new public health order, requiring all individuals to wear face coverings in public.

Indiana increased public health spending last year, but still only invested $17.58 per person which puts the state in the 49th spot overall.

Marion County Public Health Department director Dr. Virginia A. Caine declared a public health epidemic and proposed a syringe exchange program Thursday morning, citing a 1,000 percent increase in the number of hepatitis C cases from 2013 to 2017 and the potential for an HIV outbreak.

Little is known about the potential of new technologies to contribute to disease.

The Health Means Business campaign aims to highlight ways businesses can invest in community to create a healthier environment.

Marian University is responding to a need in the growing healthcare sector by adding a Health and Human Services degree.

Monroe County is the latest in Indiana to have been declared a public health emergency. State Health Commissioner Jerome Adams made the declaration today in response to an outbreak of hepatitis C.

The outbreak centered in the town of Austin in Scott County. The number of cases more than doubled to 153 from late to mid-May and at the outbreak's height as many as 22 new cases were diagnosed weekly. Now it's down to one or two per week.

Ravaged by one of the worst outbreaks of HIV in recent history and an underlying epidemic of injection drug addiction, a small rural community of Austin is changing fast as it grapples with the fallout of the crisis.

The Indiana State Department of Health says that 166 people have now tested positive for HIV in southern Indiana. Most of the cases have been linked to injection drug abuse.