COLUMBUS – Gov. Mike DeWine has asked state health director Dr. Amy Acton to issue an order requiring nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in the state to notify residents and families within 24 hours of a resident or staff member becoming infected.
“It’s the right thing to do,” he said during his daily Statehouse news briefing Monday.
Also, under the order, a list of facilities where anyone associated with the facility has tested positive for COVID-19 will be posted on the Department of Health website, along with numbers of infected individuals, DeWine said.
“If I was going to a nursing home, or if I had a parent in a nursing home, or if I was thinking about having a parent go into a nursing home I would want to know that piece of information,” he said.
At least 45 residents of nursing homes in Ohio have died of the virus and there has been concern that not all local health departments have been releasing datathere has been concern that not all local health departments have been releasing data on the rate of infections in long-term care centers.
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The state on Monday reported there were nearly 7,000 confirmed and probable cases of the coronavirus in 86 of Ohio’s 88 counties and 274 patients had died.
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The Columbus Metropolitan Library says it’s furloughing more than 600 full- and part-time employees.
All library locations have been closed since March 14 and will remain closed through at least May 2.
The furloughs are effective on April 19.