COLUMBUS – Governor Mike DeWine and officials in his administration are hoping to start reopening the state’s non-essential businesses on May 1 but will do so cautiously to avoid a resurgence of the coronavirus.
We cannot look at May 1 as a date that everything will be back to normal. We want to make #Ohio's comeback strong, but we also want to make #Ohio's comeback safe. #InThisTogetherOhio
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) April 21, 2020
People will be asked to continue social distancing. Businesses and retail shops will operate differently.
And, still, there may be a jump in cases of COVID-19 after workers return to their jobs and shoppers and diners return to stores and restaurants because most of Ohio’s residents have not been infected with the coronavirus and have built up no immunity, health director Dr. Amy Acton said.
“And so, the second we all go about and interact with each other we should anticipate that we will spread the virus to more people,” she said.
During DeWine’s Statehouse news briefing Tuesday, Acton predicted a 5- to 15-percent increase in the number of cases following the restarting of the economy.
There were 13,725 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Ohio Tuesday and 557 deaths.
A federal judge gave Ohio officials an early victory in a lawsuit challenging the shuttering of nonessential employers in response to the pandemic.
He rejected a Columbus bridal shop’s bid for a temporary restraining order allowing it to reopen.
U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley said in his decision that state officials have legitimate reasons for restricting businesses.
DeWine’s plan for non-essential businesses to begin reopening has left parents wondering where they will be able to send their children since the state’s schools have been closed for the remainder of the academic year and DeWine has not reopened day-care centers.
“You have a number of kids together and you then have them going back to their respective homes, which is a perfect recipe for spread” of the virus, he said.
One of the keys to determining the scope of the reopening is the availability of an effective method for widespread testing.
Ohio took a step forward on that front with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval Tuesday a new version reagent for Thermo Fisher’s testing machines, which are used by most major labs in Ohio, DeWine announced.
He also announced the formation a new strike team led by former Ohio governors Richard Celeste, a Democrat, and Republican Bob Taft. The group will also include other leaders from business, academia, and public health and will find sources of testing reagents and supplies and ways to make the most of supplies the state already has.
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DeWine also announced that the Ohio Department of Agriculture has waived the required $50,000 local match for the Agricultural Society Facilities Grant Program, a boon to the organizers of the 94 county and independent fairs operated in Ohio.
The Agriculture Department has agreed to set aside the local match for the funding to help fairs make necessary facilities and grounds improvements.