COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio faced an unprecedented surge in unemployment claims almost overnight as the pandemic led to widespread business shutdowns, leaving the state no time to retool its system to respond, the state’s human services chief said Wednesday as she testified before Republican lawmakers critical of the state’s reaction.
State officials in at least two other states, Arkansas and Wisconsin, responded to similar complaints in legislative testimony Wednesday.
In contrast to the Great Recession beginning in 2008 when jobless claims arrived gradually, the recent layoffs came immediately “in a tsunami,” Kimberly Hall, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, told the House Ways and Means Committee.
At the same time, because jobless numbers were so low more recently, the agency’s unemployment staffing had been reduced, Hall said.
“This experience has been unlike anything any of us have ever witnessed,” Hall said.
The state had only about 550 people in its unemployment office when the pandemic started and only 40 full-time agents in its call center, Hall said. The state now has 1,250 part-time and full-time call center agents.
Ohio has also been hobbled by the benefit system and call center’s antiquated technology, Hall said.
Ways and Means committee members have heard from many people across Ohio in recent weeks who had problems receiving their unemployment checks, said Rep. Derek Merrin, the committee’s chairman, a Republican from Moncolva in northwestern Ohio.
Breanna Holland is a 23-year-old restaurant server in Marysville in central Ohio who lost her job when her restaurant shut down in March as a result of the state’s stay-at-home order. She told the committee last week of her frustration over several weeks challenging the state’s initial denial of her claim.
“I could not reach a person. I could not leave a message. There was no call queue,” Holland said. She said she finally received benefits after reaching out to her state representative for help.
Merrin criticized the state’s preparation and response, saying the high volume of calls was the result of a broken website that should have been addressed before the pandemic hit. He also questioned why callers who wait for hours on the phone only to be disconnected aren’t immediately called back.
“We’re in 2020 — how do we not have a phone system that appropriately works?” Merrin said.
Hall agreed that the website is problematic and said it’s in the process of being revamped. She agreed that the hang-ups were frustrating and the problem is being examined.
More than 1.2 million people filed jobless claims in the past nine weeks, more than the combined total in the past three years, the agency said last week as it provided the most recent unemployment claims figures.
The state has paid out more than $2.8 billion in state funds to date along with more than $21 million from the federal Pandemic Unemployment Act. Ohio’s unemployment rate hit 16.8% last month, the highest since the state began its current record-keeping system in 1976.
In Wisconsin, Republicans accused Department of Workforce Development Secretary Caleb Frostman of not being prepared for the surge in claims and not doing enough when it arrived.
Frostman, a member of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration, recommended the state update its computer systems, increase the weekly unemployment benefit and permanently do away with a one-week waiting period to receive benefits.
Arkansas unemployment agency officials were also testifying Wednesday about problems setting up that state’s system for distributing federal unemployment dollars and about a breach that caused the system to shut down.
Complaints about the handling of unemployment claims have dogged officials across the country, including in Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma, where the director of the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission resigned last week as the unemployment agency has been the target of complaints of jobless claims going unpaid.
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Associated Press writers Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri; Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin;, Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; and Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed to this report.
About 1.3 million Ohioans file jobless claims over 10 weeks
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — About 1.3 million people filed unemployment claims in the past 10 weeks as Ohio’s economy cratered during stay-at-home orders that led to widespread layoffs, the state reported Thursday.
For the week ending May 23, about 42,000 people filed jobless claims despite the gradual reopening of the state’s economy since mid-May, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. That’s down from about 46,000 claims filed the previous week.
The numbers announced Thursday pushed total unemployment claims during the coronavirus pandemic to 1.25 million, above the total number of claims over the past three years. The state says it has now distributed more than $3.1 billion to more than 644,000 unemployment claimants.
Nationally, an estimated 2.1 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the running total since the coronavirus shutdowns took hold in mid-March to about 41 million, the government said Thursday.
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TESTING
Eligible Ohioans can now get tested for COVID-19 at participating Ohio pharmacies, after rules for ordering and administrating the tests were clarified by the state Board of Pharmacy.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said he is also broadening availability of the tests to include anyone experiencing symptoms.
A map of virus testing centers has been posted to the state’s coronavirus website.
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NURSING HOMES
Outdoor visits will be allowed at assisted living facilities as well as facilities for people with developmental disabilities, beginning June 8. Social distancing and other safety restrictions will apply.
DeWine said the limited visitation will be watched closely as his administration considers when to reopen nursing homes to visitors. He said officials are balancing safety against damage done by prolonged periods without seeing family.
The latest data showed outbreaks in nursing homes are continuing to pop up in some counties while the deaths have leveled off in others.
Ottawa County reported a week ago just one death since the pandemic began and this week added nine more. Monroe County also had a recent rise in deaths, bringing its total to 12.
The number of nursing home deaths in Franklin County has tripled during the past three weeks, rising to 150 — the most in the state.
Overall, nursing home deaths continue to account for seven of every 10 confirmed or probable COVID deaths in Ohio. Since the pandemic began, 1,442 residents of long-term care facilities have died, according to Health Department data released Wednesday. That’s compared to 2,044 total deaths.
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PRISONS
Ohio has spent about $500,000 on overnight hotel stays for prison employees and National Guard members who work in facilities with high numbers of infections, records show. The individuals were given the option of staying in a hotel rather than going home, under a Department of Rehabilitation and Correction initiative begun last month.
The prisons agency spent $183,321 on overnight stays for prison employees and $317,338 for National Guard members, according to data obtained by The Associated Press through an open records request.
The program covered people working at the Franklin Medical Center, the Correctional Reception Center in central Ohio, and Belmont, Lorain, Marion and Pickaway correctional institutions. Meals and mileage aren’t covered.
Nearly 4,700 inmates have tested positive and 73 have died, with deaths spread across nine prisons.
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CASES
Ohio’s total confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases rose to 33,915 as of Thursday, according to Health Department data. The state has averaged about 565 new cases a day over the past three weeks. Just under 2,100 deaths have been recorded.
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Seewer reported from Toledo. Associated Press reporter Julie Carr Smyth contributed to this report.