By CASEY SMITH Associated Press/Report for America

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana's top health officials made pleas Friday for Hoosiers to get vaccinated and continue wearing masks as an especially contagious coronavirus variant spreads throughout the state, but said there are no plans to reinstate public health restrictions or mandates statewide.

State health commissioner, Dr. Kristina Box said during a news conference that in recent weeks, the number of new coronavirus cases recorded in Indiana "bounced back up" to rates comparable to a year ago.

Box said the biggest threat is from the delta variant, which spreads more easily than previous versions of the coronavirus.

State officials have declined to reimpose any statewide face mask requirements or crowd-size limits, however, citing a need for local officials to make those decisions on their own.