Indiana is in the midst of the sharpest spike of COVID-19 cases since the earliest days of the pandemic. But Gov. Eric Holcomb says the state is in “a different place” as he defends his decision not to reimpose any statewide COVID-19 restrictions.

The average number of new COVID-19 cases over the last few days is nearly triple what it was a month ago. That’s the biggest month-to-month increase since April 2020 – when Indiana was under a “Stay-At-Home” order.

But Holcomb said the situation is very different.

“There was no playbook and there was no resources to test and to trace and to vaccinate,” Holcomb said. “And clearly, vaccination is the way out of this.”

Holcomb’s message now is personal responsibility.

“The role of our state government is to provide the opportunity and we’ve made it easy,” Holcomb said. “We have tried to remove every barrier for individuals to be safe, to be vaccinated.”

READ MORE: How Is Indiana Distributing COVID-19 Vaccines? Here’s What You Need To Know

Indiana remains in the bottom half of states for getting its citizens vaccinated against COVID-19.

Holcomb also continued to urge the federal government to provide full approval for the COVID-19 vaccine (which is currently under emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration). He said he believes it will help convince more Hoosiers to get the shot.

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