DeWine: Details on reopening coming Monday

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COLUMBUS – Those hoping to hear what Gov. Mike DeWine has planned for the reopening of closed businesses and workplaces on May 1 will have to wait until Monday for the details.

“We’re just not quite ready,” he told reporters at his daily televised news briefing from the Statehouse Thursday.

He and his advisors have made it clear that hitting the restart button won’t be like – well – pushing a button.

“It’s not going to come back fast,” Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said. “It’s not like, on May 1, that, the things that open up, that it’s just going to pop back like a light switch.”

Lifting restrictions on large gatherings and mobility and throwing open the doors of shuttered bars, restaurants, salons and other businesses could have dire consequences, warned Mark Weir, PhD., an assistant professor of Environmental Health at Ohio State.

“You’re almost inviting another peak to occur,” he said.

With the help of visual aids, Weir explained that liquid droplets containing the virus, produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes, spreads through contact with others or contaminated surfaces, so he emphasized the role of personal and environmental controls in the reopening process.

Precautions against the coronavirus include hand-washing, wearing masks and disinfecting surfaces in workplaces. (Sustainability Institute at Ohio State)

Personal precautions include hand-washing and sanitizing and wearing masks. Employers should disinfect surfaces often and maintain distance between individuals. Managers of facilities and buildings should install effective air filters.

DeWine says the state must consider the health and economic ramifications of reopening too quickly.

“As we move to open up more of Ohio and get more people back to work, we want to do it in a careful way. We want to do it in a way than engenders confidence” in employees and the public, DeWine said.

Ohio is reporting that nearly 1 million people have filed unemployment claims since the restrictions to control the pandemic took effect in March.

UPDATE 4/24/20 2:31 p.m.: The state on Friday reported 15,169 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Ohio and 690 deaths.

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Starting Friday, self-employed Ohioans, including “gig workers,” part-time employees and others who have historically not qualified for unemployment benefits, can begin pre-registering for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a federal program approved by Congress last month as part of a $2.2 trillion rescue package.

Ohioans thrown out of work as a result of the pandemic, but who don’t qualify for regular unemployment benefits, including self-employed workers, 1099 tax filers and those who lack sufficient work history, can begin pre-registering for the program by going to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services website and clicking on “Get Started Now,” the department announced Thursday.

The benefit amount will be similar to traditional unemployment benefits, plus an additional $600 per week through July 25. The pre-registration tool will allow individuals to get in line early and pre-register their account, so that as soon as the agency has the technical ability to process their claims in May, they can log in and complete their paperwork, director Kim Hall said.

Benefits will be retroactive to the date workers became unemployed, as early as Feb. 2, and will provide up to 39 weeks of benefits.

In addition, more than 400,000 Ohioans began receiving weekly $600 supplements to their unemployment benefits this week as a part of the federal rescue package. The weekly supplements are also available through July 25.