COLUMBUS — Governor Mike DeWine will give a statewide address Wednesday night, the second time he will make a public appeal about the severity of the coronavirus’ spread since the pandemic began in March.
The announcement of the address comes as the state continues to break records in the numbers of new cases and hospitalizations.
Ohio Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff says the latest surge is different from the ones that occurred in the spring and summer, which mostly raised concerns about supplies of protective equipment and hospital capacity.
“What we are seeing now, as cases surge, is an increasing demand on our staffing,” he told reporters Monday. “Every county in the state is feeling the brunt of rising COVID-19 hospitalizations.”
DeWine says the state is at a “critical stage” in the battle against the virus, which has sickened 267,346 Ohioans and killed 5,623 as of Wednesday.
The 6,508 new confirmed anand probable cases of COVID-19 reported Tuesday and the 5,874 are the the two highest one-day totals of the pandemic so far.
There are 2,880 patients currently hospitalized, occupying 10.55% of the state’s available hospital beds. Less than 27% of the hospital beds in the state are available.
More than 15% of the intensive-care beds in the state are occupied by COVID-19 patients.
Early on in the pandemic, DeWine stood out as a rare GOP governor ringing the alarm on the virus and enforcing aggressive precautions statewide.
The lifelong politician also stood alone within his party in pushing for mask-wearing and social distancing enforcement.
Ohio has remained under a statewide mask mandate since July, leaving many to wonder what steps DeWine might take to curb the spread this time.