COLUMBUS – Outdoor visits will be allowed again at Ohio nursing homes beginning July 20, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday.
DeWine said he weighed the risk of relaxing the restriction against the importance of family visits to people’s mental well-being.
“We realize the lack of in-person engagement with family and friends who live outside of these congregate settings may significantly diminish a person’s quality of life who is in one of these facilities,” DeWine said during a briefing at the Statehouse Monday.
Before allowing outdoor visitation, DeWine says nursing homes must consider the number of cases in the facility and the surrounding community, staffing levels, access to adequate testing for residents and staff, personal protective equipment supplies and local hospital capacity.
You may be wondering if the increased cases are simply because Ohio has worked so hard to ramp up our testing. Certainly, some is due to that, but not entirely. You have to look at positivity. pic.twitter.com/gVd83QInl6
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) June 29, 2020
The announcement was made even as spikes in COVID-19 cases were reported in two southwest Ohio counties, Hamilton and Montgomery.
DeWine said Vice President Mike Pence shared his concern on a Monday call and has offered federal help.
Ohio saw an increase in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations last week — after over two months of declines, DeWine said.
The National Guard is stepping up pop-up testing sites in the area (see below).
The state reported 743 more confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 Tuesday for a total of 51,789 and 2,863 deaths.
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The 2020 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon and Half Marathon, scheduled for October 18, has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously to provide a full refund of registration fees for 2020 registrants.
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The Columbus Metropolitan Library now requires all customers to wear face coverings inside all library locations.
The library will provide free face masks to customers who may not have one.
The library continues to offer curbside pickup and limited services at its branches.