COLUMBUS – Governor Mike DeWine is issuing a three-week statewide curfew on many businesses as governors and mayors across the U.S. close businesses or curtail hours and order or urge people to stay home and keep their distance from others to help stem a rising tide of COVID-19 infections.
DeWine on Tuesday announced that stores must be closed and residents are asked to remain at home from 10:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. daily for 21 days beginning Thursday night.
“We know if we reduce number of people we come in contact every day, we reduce the chance of getting the virus, and we reduce the chance of getting the virus if you unknowingly have it,” the governor said.
Ohio Tuesday reported over 7,000 new confirmed and probable cases for the fifth straight day and has averaged nearly 7,200 new cases per day for the previous seven days.
A total of 312,443 Ohioans have been diagnosed with the virus since the pandemic began in March with 5,772 deaths and 22,846 total hospitalizations.
DeWine called on Ohioans to reduce contact with others by 20 to 25%, which he said “will go a long way from stopping our hospitals from being overrun.”
The 3,648 patients currently hospitalized occupy 13.27% of the state’s inpatient capacity, including 18.99% of the intensive-care unit beds.
The moving seven-day positivity rate is 12.5%.
Under the order, grocery stores and pharmacies will be exempt, and carryout and delivery by bars and restaurants will be allowed but customers must exit at 10:00 p.m.
There are also exceptions for anyone going to work, experiencing an emergency, buying groceries or medicine, or seeking medical help.
Violation of the curfew is a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a $750 fine and 90 days in jail, though DeWine says he knows of no cases where violations of previous orders have led to any prosecution.
With deaths in the U.S. running at more than 1,100 per day on average, governors and mayors across the U.S. are ratcheting up COVID-19 restrictions ahead of Thanksgiving for fear that holiday travel and family gatherings will only worsen the record-breaking, coast-to-coast resurgence of the virus.
In states like New Mexico and Washington and cities such as Philadelphia and Chicago, leaders are ordering or imploring residents to stay home.
A record-breaking nearly 70,000 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus in the U.S. as of Sunday, 13,000 more than a week earlier.
COSI officials announced Tuesday that the science museum would not reopen this Friday as planned, due to the high incidence of disease spread in Franklin County.
“After careful consideration of the current COVID-19 situation in Franklin County and beyond, COSI has made the difficult but appropriate decision to delay its planned reopening. With the staggeringly increasing cases in Ohio and Franklin County approaching an Alert Level 4 according to the Ohio Public Health Advisory Alert System, COSI has undertaken this action out of the paramount concern for the health and safety of its Guests, Members and Team. COSI will continue to monitor the situation along with state and local health officials.” –Dr. Frederic Bertley, COSI President and CEO
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Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman is participating in a COVID-19 vaccine test to encourage more people to volunteer for the vaccine studies.
“Public confidence in vaccines is declining at exactly the time that we need these vaccines the most, and we need to do what we can to reverse that trend. My hope is that by being involved firsthand I can use my platform as a senator to help give people confidence that these new vaccines being developed are safe and effective,” he said on the floor of the U.S. Senate Tuesday.
He says vaccines are the best hope for reducing the pandemic’s toll.
Portman received an injection earlier this month at a Cincinnati lab that is testing an experimental vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.
He does daily monitoring of his vital signs, keeping a log and working with the lab.
Portman, like other volunteers, doesn’t know if he got the vaccine or a dummy shot.
J&J’s candidate is one of four vaccines in late-stage testing in the U.S. Two companies, Pfizer Inc., and Moderna, have reported their preliminary results show their experimental vaccines are strongly protective.