COLUMBUS – Columbus is reportedly on a list of cities where the White House coronavirus task force feared a resurgence of the virus as states reopened closed businesses and workplaces.
The leaked White House document – first obtained by NBC News – placed Columbus on a list, along with Charlotte, N.C.; Kansas City, Mo., and Minneapolis because the task force believes they were seeing spikes in cases of the virus a week ago as restrictions were lifted.
Ohio health director Dr. Amy Acton says there’s no indication there is a serious resurgence in Columbus but says it serves as a reminder to Ohioans not let their guards down.
“It’s still a pretty treacherous time for us, so I think we have to remember that all of us have to double down on our efforts. It’s how careful we are that allows us to do more and more,” she said.
The 10 top areas on the list., including Nashville, Des Moines and Amarillo, recorded surges of greater than 70 percent over a seven-day period compared to the previous week, the network reported.
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The Ohio Air National Guard continues its series of flyovers honoring Ohio’s hospital workers today with flights scheduled over five Columbus hospitals.
The 121st Air Refueling Wing, based at Rickenbacker International Airport, will team up with the 180th Fighter Wing out of Toledo to conduct the flyovers to honor medical workers and others who have been responding to the coronavirus outbreak.
The tentative schedule is as follows:
1:00 Mount Carmel St. Ann’s
1:02 – Riverside Methodist Hospital
1:03 – The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
1:05 – Nationwide Children’s Hospital
1:07– Mount Carmel East
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Stay-at-home orders and business closings have meant a lot less traffic on Ohio roadways and that has in turn added up to cleaner air.
The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission has a system to track traffic volumes based on various locations throughout Central Ohio and also monitors air quality in the region.
MORPC is the agency that issues air quality alerts when ozone pollution reaches uncomfortable levels, advisories that have been mostly unnecessary lately.
MORPC says ozone air pollution was from March, when Gov. Mike DeWine began closing the state’s businesses and workplaces, until mid-April was 14 percent lower than average pollution levels from 2015 to 2019, said Bevan Schneck, MORPC’s senior public affairs coordinator.
The agency credited the cleanup to the combined effect of less traffic on the roads and an especially rainy spring.
Traffic volume was cut in half during that period with the traffic on one stretch of I-270 between I-71 and Cleveland Avenue on Northeast Side down 56 percent.