By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS and MARK GILLISPIE Associated Press, and staff
COLUMBUS – Governor Mike DeWine says some businesses taking proper precautions amid the pandemic could begin reopening after May 1.
“Ohioans have done a great job, a phenomenal job, fighting back, staying home, ensuring physical distancing… I’ve never been prouder to be an Ohioan,” he said. during his daily televised Statehouse news briefing. “You have flattened the curve.”
The Ohio Department of Health call center is open 7 days a week from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. to answer questions regarding COVID-19 at 1-833-4-ASK-ODH (1-833-427-5634).
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DeWine says Ohio must be careful to avoid a situation where new coronavirus cases spike after society starts to reopen.
DeWine says any business that reopens must provide a safe environment, including social distancing, hand-washing and mask wearing.
“Got to keep safe, got to protect the most vulnerable, at the same time we got to start moving this economy back forward. We got to do both things at once. So, May 1 is the date, it’s not that we’re reopening the state in that sense, but we want to do it in a way that engenders confidence in the people of the state of Ohio,” DeWine said.
We have a plan to start opening Ohio back up. It's going to be gradual- one thing after another. We want to do this in a thoughtful way that engenders confidence and ensures customers and employees are safe.
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) April 16, 2020
Department of Health director Dr. Amy Acton and Lt. Governor Jon Husted will head up a panel of economic advisors to single out which current requirements on essential business operations will work best to minimize the health risk to business owners, employees and customers, DeWine said.
UPDATE 4/17/20 2:20 p.m.: The state health department reported 9,107 confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus and 418 patients had died.
DeWine and his counterparts in six other Midwestern states announced Thursday that they will coordinate on reopening their state economies, after similar pacts were made earlier this week in the Northeast and on the West Coast.
Thursday’s announcement covers Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.
The governors say they will work with experts and take a “fact-based, data-driven approach to reopening our economy in a way that protects families from the spread of COVID-19.”
The states will review four factors as they reopen their economies: the number of cases in the state and the number of hospital admissions, the amount of hospital capacity, the ability to test and trace cases of COVID-19 and best practices for social distancing in businesses, DeWine said.
Together, the 17 states covered by the three pacts are home to nearly half the U.S. population.
President Donald Trump has given governors a road map for recovering from the economic pain of the coronavirus pandemic, laying out “a phased and deliberate approach” to restoring normal activity. Places with declining infections and strong testing would begin a three-phase gradual reopening of businesses and schools.
Watch the White House news conference here.
Meanwhile, officials say the percentage of beds available in Ohio hospitals is unchanged since before the coronavirus pandemic began, and facilities set aside to take extra patients aren’t being used so far.
Hospital officials attribute this to the state’s early stay-at-home orders and the cancellation of elective surgeries.