The Ford Center announced late Tuesday morning, masks will be required for all individuals attending any event scheduled at the venue beginning immediately and until further notice.

The venue made the announcement through both their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts.

As the announcement notes, the only time masks can be removed is when an individual is eating or drinking. It also states it will not require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to enter the venue.

The decision to implement the policy should come as no surprise as the number of COVID cases in the Tri-State has steadily risen over the past few weeks due to the Delta variant. According to the Tuesday, August 17th update of Indiana Department of Health's coronavirus map, Vanderburgh, Gibson, Pike, and Knox counties are all in the orange on while Posey, Warrick, Spencer, and Dubois counties have all been moved to the red, the second-worst and worst categories, respectively, counties can find themselves in based on the state's weekly 2-metric score.

The venue's announcement comes two days before a scheduled Hank Williams, Jr. concert on Friday (August 20th, 2021), and roughly a week and a half before Guns & Hoses and Lady A on August 28th and 29th, respectively. Tickets are still available for all three of those events, as well as the Blake Shelton and Lauren Daigle shows in September. It remains to be seen if the mask policy has any impact on selling those remaining tickets.

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[Source: The Ford Center on Twitter / Indiana Department of Health]

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