COLUMBUS – For the first time in nearly a year, students in Ohio‘s largest school district were returning to classrooms Monday morning.
Students from preschool to 3rd and some special needs students began a blended learning schedule that combines in-person learning two days a week with three days of remote learning from home. Fourth and fifth graders were schedule to head back to school Feb. 8.
District officials required school buildings to meet eight safety and hygiene criteria, including furniture arrangements to accommodate social distancing guidelines, plexiglass barriers where necessary and at least a six-week supply of personal protective equipment and disinfecting products for staff and students.
Teachers and school district workers, as well as Ohioans age 70 and older were eligible to begin getting COVID-19 vaccinations Monday.
Find out more about the vaccinations
Public and private schools and career and technology tech entities learned Friday when teachers and staff would be able to begin receiving vaccines with Gov. Mike DeWine’s stated goal being to return schools to either full-time in-person learning or a hybrid model by March 1.
DeWine says the state’s plan for vaccinating the 91,000 teachers and other staff workers will allow most staff in a county to be vaccinated within seven days of their assigned vaccination start date.
The state has administered 823,839 initial doses of the vaccine to approximately (7% of the total population.
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The state reported fewer than 3,500 hospital admissions for the 11th straight day, a statistic that will impact whether the current 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. curfew is rolled back to midnight to 5:00 a.m. or lifted entirely. There were 2,441 Ohioans hospitalized with COVID-19 Sunday after 80 new admissions.
There were 3,011 newly confirmed cases of the virus, bringing the statewide total since the onset of the pandemic to 895,792 with 11,175 deaths and 46,215 total hospitalizations.
The state’s seven-day positivity rate has fallen to 8% and there are 104,729 active cases statewide.