Gov. Eric Holcomb announced Wednesday the state will devote significant resources to nursing homes across Indiana in the next few weeks.

COVID-19 cases and deaths are surging at nursing homes as the state infection rate spikes.

To respond, Holcomb said he will deploy the Indiana National Guard and members of the state’s health care reserve workforce to help staff those facilities.

“We’re going to be sending a lot of additional PPE – N-95 masks and gowns and face shields … kind of surgically meeting that surge with a surge of our own,” Holcomb said.

Indiana State Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lindsay Weaver said the state will also help further educate nursing home staff about best practices for reducing spread of the virus.

“We will hire clinical staff from the health care reserve workforce to allow all long-term care facilities to be visited at least three times a week,” Weaver said.

Nursing homes account for more than half of Indiana’s COVID-19 deaths.

Contact reporter Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.