(INDIANAPOLIS) – A new executive order goes into effect today for the State of Indiana.

Executive Order 21-02 was signed last week by Governor Eric Holcomb to adjust the targeted restrictions for counties that have high levels of COVID-19. He also issued a second order extending the public health emergency an additional 30 days, to the end of February.

The main change in the new Executive Order is that gathering sizes would change from a hard head count of people to a percentage of a venue's total capacity. This will allow larger venues with more space to host more people than they previously could.

The gathering size limitations are going to remain tied to a county's color-coded rating as issued by the Indiana State Department of Health. Lower percentages will be for counties in red and orange due to high spread of COVID-19. There will also be an improved restriction for those in yellow for moderate spread and no limitation for counties able to make it to blue for low spread.

Holcomb says the changes come because of substantial positive indicators that Indiana is seeing currently, with falling case counts, falling positivity rates, falling hospital admissions and falling daily death counts.

Gathering sizes are still technically limited to 25 people for counties in red, 50 people for those in orange, 100 for counties in yellow and 250 for counties in blue. The changes allow venues or event organizers to submit a written safety plan to the local county health department for review that can allow them to increase that cap to a percentage of the sites' total capacity.