K-12 Schools to Remain Closed, Minority Health Strike Force, Data Collection, Private Lab Testing
(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Dr. Amy Acton, MD, MPH, provided the following updates on Ohio’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
K-12 SCHOOLS:
Governor DeWine announced today that K-12 schools in Ohio will remain closed for the rest of the 2019-2020 academic year.
“We balanced many issues in arriving at this decision. In the end, I believe this is what is best to protect the health of our children, our teachers, and our administrators,” said Governor DeWine. “While our buildings are closed, we know that students continue to learn in new and innovative ways. I thank all of our teachers, administrators, support staff, and parents for all they have done and will continue to do in these challenging times.”
At this time, no decisions have been made regarding whether or not schools will reopen in the fall.
MINORITY HEALTH STRIKE FORCE:
Because COVID-19 is disproportionately impacting minority groups in Ohio and across the country, Governor DeWine announced today that he has formed a new Minority Health Strike Force.
According to data from the Ohio Department of Health, 21 percent of individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Ohio are African American, although they only make up approximately 14 percent of Ohio’s population.
“We must recognize that there are many Ohioans who have an increased risk of being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, and we must do everything we can to protect all Ohioans from this pandemic,” said Governor DeWine.
A list of individuals serving on the Minority Health Strike Force can be found here.
NURSING HOME/HOSPITAL DATA COLLECTION:
In addition to comprehensive data already published on coronavirus.ohio.gov, Governor DeWine announced today that he has directed the Ohio Department of Health to collect more specific information regarding cases of COVID-19 in Ohio nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and hospitals.
In regard to nursing homes and assisted living facilities, this data will include COVID-19 cases broken down by the number of residents and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 at nursing homes and assisted living facilities listed by facility and county. Data will be posted to coronavirus.ohio.gov every Wednesday.
While balancing transparency and individual privacy rights, Ohio will also begin reporting aggregate death data for nursing homes and assisted living facilities at the county level. Because Ohio’s reporting module must be modified to accurately collect this information, this data will likely begin to be reported next week.
Additionally, because Ohioans are concerned about how COVID-19 is impacting hospitals and other healthcare facilities, Governor DeWine directed the Department of Health to modify the Ohio Disease Reporting System to accurately collect case information for direct care providers at hospitals who have tested positive for COVID-19. The data, which will be available soon on coronavirus.ohio.gov, will be listed by each hospital.
PRIVATE LAB TESTING:
The Ohio Department of Health had previously issued an order prohibiting hospitals from sending COVID-19 testing samples to private labs due to slow turnaround time.
Governor DeWine announced today that LabCorp and Quest currently have no backlog of samples and have added more testing capacity. In response to the private laboratories’ improved turnaround times, the Ohio Department of Health will again allow hospitals to utilize commercial laboratories in addition to hospital laboratories performing COVID-19 testing.
The Ohio Department of Health will continue to monitor the turnaround times for all laboratories including commercial laboratories to make sure those who have been tested get results as quickly as possible.
CURRENT OHIO DATA:
There are 12,919 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Ohio and 509 confirmed and probable COVID-19 deaths. A total of 2,653 people have been hospitalized, including 798 admissions to intensive care units. In-depth data can be accessed by visiting coronavirus.ohio.gov.
Video of today’s full update, including versions with foreign language closed captioning, can be viewed on the Ohio Channel’s YouTube page.
For more information on Ohio’s response to COVID-19, visit coronavirus.ohio.gov or call 1-833-4-ASK-ODH.
Ohio won’t go back to class for remainder of school year
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Schools across Ohio will stay closed for the remainder of the school year while classes continue remotely, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday.
DeWine, who was the first governor in the nation to shutter schools statewide, said his latest decision stems from concern for the continued safety of students, teachers and communities. He said returning students to their classrooms could lead to new cases of COVID-19.
DeWine said teachers and administrators also worried that another disruption to a school year already interrupted by the coronavirus might negatively affect students, who need continuity.
“We have to think about the risk to teachers, students, and our communities,” DeWine said.
The governor said no decision has been made about the fall but said a blend of in-person and online learning might be an option for districts. He urged state and local education leaders to be considering plans to address the needs of students with disabilities, those with health risks, those lacking internet access and those who might not have a stable home life.
Other developments Monday related to the virus in Ohio:
PRISONS
Ohio inmates now make up more than one in four of the state’s coronavirus cases following a spike in identified infections as universal testing takes place inside three state prisons.
Figures released Monday show 1,950 positive tests at Marion Correctional Facility in north-central Ohio, out of about 2,500 total inmates, according to the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
In addition, 154 employees at Marion have tested positive, out of a total of about 350 workers, which includes about 295 guards. One Marion prison guard died earlier this month.
Cases also spiked at a second prison, Pickaway Correctional Facility, where 1,163 have tested positive out of a population of about 2,000, according to Monday’s data.
DeWine said he would look into reports of inmates being placed back into normal living situations without social distancing while awaiting delayed test results.
Systemwide, 3,312 inmates have tested positive and eight have died, including six at Pickaway. Even the head of the prison guards’ union, Christopher Mabe, is in self-quarantine after his wife, a guard at Lorain Correctional Institution, tested positive.
The spike in prison infections sent the state’s tally of cases on Monday to nearly 13,000, which includes 509 deaths and more than 2,600 hospitalizations.
Inmate rights groups have called on the Republican governor to release thousands of the state’s 49,000 inmates to prevent the spread of the virus — among them Policy Matters Ohio, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative and the Juvenile Justice Coalition.
To date, DeWine has released just seven inmates, and requested a review of 198 others, most of them elderly, with sentences running out soon; pregnant inmates; and women with children living with them behind bars.
Members of the Ohio National Guard are helping staff the Pickaway and Marion facilities, and are also assisting at the federal prison in Elkton in eastern Ohio, where six inmates have died.
On April 10, DeWine announced that facility-wide testing would be done at Marion, Pickaway and the Franklin Medical Center in Columbus. At that time, 36 inmates and 58 employees had tested positive, most at Marion and Pickaway.
That decision came two weeks after a Marion employee first tested positive on March 29. Although the prison system assessed every Marion staff member afterward, it was up to inmates to tell medical staff if they were ill, according to an email the prisons director sent to DeWine’s office on March 30.
“Nothing of concern has surfaced,” prisons director Annette Chambers-Smith said of the inmate situation in the March 30 email, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press through a records’ request.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up in a couple of weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems are at higher risk of more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.
ECONOMY
Protesters returned to the Ohio Statehouse Monday where about 200 people carried signs with messages like “Sick=Stay Home, Healthy=Go to Work” and chanted “Open Ohio Now.” Several carried semiautomatic rifles.
“Whether you think the virus is overblown or not, the way things were deemed essential or nonessential is getting out of hand,” said Mike Chancelor, 49, an airline pilot from Columbus, carrying a sign that said “Freedom is Essential.” Chancelor said it’s not right his wife can’t undergo a skin cancer treatment while elective surgeries are prohibited.
DATA
DeWine said a statewide list of cases by nursing homes was taken down because of inaccuracies. It will be back Wednesday along with cases broken down between residents and employees, and nursing home deaths by county, but not by facility.
DeWine also said new data coming soon will show the number of healthcare workers who tested positive by hospital.