COLUMBUS – Governor Mike DeWine is calling on the providers of COVID-19 vaccinations to step up their schedule to make up for delays and the closing of some clinics due to winter weather this week.
Vaccine shipments in Ohio and across the country continue to be delayed so DeWine recommends Ohioans with vaccine appointments this week confirm that their appointment has not been canceled before leaving home.
He called for providers to administer vaccinations over the weekend as shipments arrive to make up for lost time.
“The faster you can get those in people‘s arms, the better but we know that some of you have been delayed several days in getting the vaccine,” he said during his regular Thursday afternoon pandemic briefing.
The state health department reports that 14 million Ohioans have received the initial dose of the vaccine and 369,627, or 4.6% of the state’s total population, have completed the regimen.
DeWine Friday activated an Ohio National Guard engineer company based in Portsmouth to help local authorities in Lawrence and Gallia counties in southern Ohio with the removal of downed trees that are interfering with work to restore power and are obstructing area ditches, creeks, and streams.
DeWine visited Lawrence County Friday to tour areas impacted by recent ice storms.
He declared a state of emergency in the county on Wednesday after the storms brought down hundreds of trees and caused widespread power outages and the cancellation of many scheduled vaccinations.
Other state agencies that have been providing assistance include the Ohio Department of Transportation, Department of Natural Resources, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, and the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.
DeWine has suggested a compromise might be possible with lawmakers seeking once again to curtail his ability to issue pandemic-related public health orders.
The governor says a Senate bill containing the latest restrictions is an improvement over an initial version.
While he did not withdraw his veto threat, DeWine said Thursday he and lawmakers owe it to Ohioans to try to work something out.
“We don’t want a situation where a future governor does not have the tools that she, or he, needs to protect the people of the state of Ohio. That would be short-sighted. It could be tragic,” he said.
Under the bill, which passed the Senate this week, a small committee of legislators could overrule the Ohio governor’s health orders.
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DeWine has also softened his criticism of schools that say they may not make the March 1 deadline to offer in-person learning.
DeWine says the focus should be on the majority of schools complying with the deadline.
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The state reported 2,282 additional cases of COVID-19 Thursday. The total number of Ohioans infected by the virus is now 947,389.
There were 98 additional deaths, bringing the total to 16,611.
There were 1,516 Ohioans being treated in hospitals for COVID-19 after 173 new admissions, occupying 5.48% of the state’s hospital beds. The number of coronavirus patients in Ohio hospitals has dropped by nearly 70% since Dec. 18. A total of 49,061 individuals have been hospitalized during the pandemic.
There are 54,081 active cases of COVID-19 in the state and the seven-day positivity rate is 5%.