COLUMBUS – Governor Mike DeWine says nearly all of Ohio’s public school districts have told the state they plan to return to some form of in-person learning March 1.
The Republican governor said Tuesday that 96% of districts responded to a survey about their plans and said they would employ either hybrid programs with some days in school and some at home or full-time in-person learning.
“We’re happy with that,” he said during a regularly scheduled coronavirus briefing Tuesday. “We’d like to get to 100 but 96% so far have told us ‘yes, we’re going to do this’.”
Schools committed to at least partially returning to in-person by March 1 have been designated a local Educational Service Center as a working partner and districts are also choosing a retail pharmacy partner or local health department to administer the vaccinations to school personnel beginning the week of Feb. 1, DeWine said.
The majority of the vaccination clinics for school personnel will be closed clinics to the general public, the governor said.
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Ohio’s seven-day rolling average of daily new cases has dropped to 6,587 new cases per day, with 4,989 new cases reported Tuesday, the second day in a row with fewer than 5,000 newly confirmed cases.
However, state officials are concerned about new variants of the coronavirus, including those who have been detected in Columbus and elsewhere in Ohio.
The new variants, which were reported last week by scientists at Ohio State, originated in the U.S., though they bear similarities to strains that have developed overseas.
The mutations involve the protein “spikes“ that surround the virus, causing it to adhere to other cells. Health experts believe this makes the new variants spread more easily.
“The virus is changing to become more contagious and experience suggests these more contagious strains will become dominant quickly, maybe just in several weeks,” said Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, medical director of the Ohio Department of Health.
Normal precautions, such as wearing face coverings, maintaining social distance, washing hands often and avoiding large gatherings will ward off the new strains and experts believe the current vaccines will be effective against them, Vanderhoff said.
As of Tuesday, 456,131 individuals have received the first of two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, or 3.9% of the total population, as Ohio began administering vaccines to residents age 80 and older.
Columbus Public Health and Franklin County Public Health received a limited amount of vaccine doses and were able to resume scheduling vaccinations again.
Those who live or work in Columbus or Worthington can call 614-645-1519 to schedule an appointment at the Columbus Public Health Clinic at the Celeste Center on at the Expo Center, 717 E. 17th Avenue between 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday and between 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Saturday.
Residents of the remaining communities in Franklin County should call 614-525-5225 to schedule an appointment at the Franklin County Public Health clinic at 1700 Morse Road.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services has begun issuing supplemental weekly $300 federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation payments made possible by a bill signed into law on Dec. 27.
There had been a delay the agency blamed on a new system programming update.
“We understand the urgency of providing Ohioans with the resources they need to support their families. We worked quickly to align our system with the new requirements, and I am pleased that we can now provide much-needed relief to eligible claimants,” director Kimberly Henderson said.
The bill provided up to an additional 11 weeks of supplemental benefits through March 13.
Claimants will receive benefits retroactive to Dec. 27.
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There have been 836,055 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic and 55 deaths reported Tuesday raised the total number to 10,336.
There have been 43,605 Ohioans who have been hospitalized for treatment of the virus, including 254 reported Tuesday, bringing the total number of patients currently in the hospital to 3,643, occupying 13.15% of the state’s inpatient capacity.
The statewide seven-day positivity rate was 11%.