COLUMBUS – After Kentucky shut down its bars and reduced restaurant capacity on Monday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said it’s too soon to say if the Buckeye State will follow suit.
“We are in the process of doing a deep dive on that,” DeWine said, adding that what he is ultimately trying to determine is how many COVID-19 cases have come from Ohio bars.
“We’ll have more shortly,” he said. “But not today.”
DeWine applauded Columbus for closing bars at 10 p.m. and said he'd have "additional discussion" about bars during a coronavirus briefing on Thursday.
Child care providers can return to normal class sizes Aug. 9
Childcare providers can return to their normal class sizes and staffing ratios starting Aug. 9.
Most child care providers shut down March 26; some remained open with smaller class sizes and increased cleaning protocols. All child care providers were allowed to reopen June 1 under those rules.
It’s become clear, especially as students prepare to return to school, DeWine said, that system will no longer work.
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“We know that children cannot learn unless they’re safe, unless they’re cared for,” DeWine said, “and without access to childcare, parents may resort to less-than-ideal options because they have no choice.”
With the reduced ratios, childcare operators have been getting subsidized to make up the difference, DeWine said. Operators can choose to keep getting that subsidy and stay at the lower ratios, or they can forego the subsidy and return to their normal ratios.
During the pandemic, there have been 442 total coronavirus cases reported in child care settings: 306 staff members and 136 children. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services estimates more than 40,000 children were enrolled in child care programs during that time.
DeWine said three-fourths of those cases were traced back to community spread, while the rest were contracted within the child care setting. Ohio was part of a national study on the effects of school and child care closures.
DeWine said results are not yet back from that study, but it was important to expand child care as a safe alternative to having a grandparent or person at-risk of coronavirus complications care for a school-aged child.
No more full fairs this summer
DeWine said there will be no more full county fairs this summer – six weeks after a public health order allowed them to take place with restrictions.
Counties can still hold junior fairs with events such as livestock, photography and sewing, DeWine said. But going forward, “no grandstand events, no rides, no games, no carnival.”
There will also be a 10 p.m. curfew at the fairs, DeWine said. The new order takes effect for fairs opening Friday and afterward.
DeWine said his goal early on was to preserve the fairs, but it’s become clear that cannot be done safely. Some fairs were doing a good job, he said, but others were not mandating social distancing or enforcing mask requirements.
There have been multiple COVID-19 outbreaks connected to fairs. At least 19 cases of COVID-19 have been linked to the Pickaway County fair.
“That’s just a real shame,” he said. “… I’m sorry that this simply did not work.”
This order will not affect the Butler County Fair, which ends Friday.
Too early to say it's safe for football
DeWine said he wasn't aware of Ohio State University's plans to host football games at 20% capacity – about 21,000 spectators. DeWine said OSU and professional sports teams can make plans, but ultimately the decision will be made by his office.
DeWine said he continues to have concerns about gathering large numbers of people, not just at a game but in all the situations before and after those gatherings.
"It’s too early to determine what is safe," DeWine said. "It’s too early to determine if putting 20,000 people at Ohio State Stadium is really a safe thing or not. I don’t think we know that."
1,320 new cases; 38 new deaths
Statewide, Ohio now has 86,497 cases of COVID-19 and 3,382 deaths, according to Ohio Department of Health data released Tuesday.
Of those, 1,320 confirmed and probable cases and 38 deaths were reported since Monday. That does not mean they were diagnosed or died in the previous 24 hours, and some of those newly reported cases and deaths are from several weeks ago.
An estimated 1,114 COVID-19 patients were currently hospitalized on Tuesday, according to the Ohio Association of Hospitals. That’s the highest number yet reported by the association and higher than the seven-day average of 1,088.
The number of newly reported cases, hospitalizations and deaths were each above the three-week average. DeWine said it appears some of the numbers are plateauing instead of continuing to go up.
DeWine shared data showing some good news: Number of COVID-19-related emergency room visits (a leading indicator but delayed a few days) has declined a little after shooting up in mid-July. That's one of the indicators on the state's county alert map.
Ohio's rate of positive coronavirus tests was 5.3% of tests reported Sunday, the most recent day that information is available. That's below the seven-day rolling average of 6.3% and above the low of 3.8% on June 14.
The World Health Organization has recommended a benchmark of 5% for at least 14 days to reopen the economy while managing outbreaks.
Ohio's positivity rate drew concerns Tuesday from White House health adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Increasing positivity rates in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee are an early sign the outbreak is worsening, Fauci said. He said if states open up, they should do so in accordance with guidelines that recommend phasing in reopenings.
"If you do that carefully ... I think we can prevent the surges that we’ve seen in the southern states, because we just can’t afford, yet again, another surge," Fauci said in an interview on "Good Morning America."
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