(La Porte County, IN) - A local official expressed anger at people not being vaccinated because of the continued surge in COVID-19 cases.

According to the Indiana State Department of Health, the number of people testing positive in the past seven days in La Porte County since yesterday went from eight to nine percent. Two counties downstate, Brown and Spencer, just had their positivity rates climb above 20-percent.

After seeing very little revenue last year because of COVID-19 restrictions, tourism industry officials are appealing to the unvaccinated to get immunized.

Jack Arnett, Executive Director of the La Porte County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said this year would be one of the best years for tourism locally because people with cabin fever are eager to get back out during the summer.

However, he said business owners relying on tourism are very concerned about mask mandates, and other COVID-19 restrictions will return if case numbers don’t start going back down.

“The folks who are not getting vaccinated are holding our economy and the rest of us hostage. They’re literally putting the gun to our heads,” Arnett said. "We can't allow that.  We just got to get everybody vaccinated. Period." 

According to the La Porte County Health Department, the number of fully vaccinated residents from twelve years old and up is 51.6 percent. That number is slightly above the state average.