COLUMBUS – As the number of coronavirus hospitalizations rise disturbingly in central Ohio and around the state, more schools in Franklin County are joining the list of those that plan to start the new school year 100% online.
The Westerville, Gahanna-Jefferson school districts made the decision Wednesday at the urging of county health commissioner Joe Mazzola.
“We just don’t feel like the conditions in the community are supportive of a safe return to the classroom, even in a hybrid setting,” Mazzola said in an interview for Perspective.
In a letter to school superintendents, Mazzola wrote that “it is the opinion of Franklin County Public Health our community is actively experiencing significant and sustained community transmission of the virus” and he recommended districts operate remotely and also cancel extracurricular activities, including sports and band.
The Hilliard City Schools immediately halted extracurricular activities but had not made a decision on its academic procedures as of early Thursday, according to the district’s website.
In Westerville, school officials decided to scrap their hybrid learning plan combining in-person instruction with remote learning after meeting with health officials.
“Though there was a recent short-term improvement to some key data being monitored, according to Franklin County Public Health and Columbus Public Health, the confirmed rate of COVID-19 cases in our region over the last four to six weeks, as well as the ratio of daily cases compared to the total population, continue to trend upward and remain concerning to them,” superintendent Dr. John Kellogg said in a statement released Wednesday.
Officials in the Columbus, South-Western and Bexley districts made their decisions earlier this week
Local hospitals & those around the state are seeing their highest number of patients with the coronavirus since the pandemic began.
Ohio hospitals are seeing their highest number of patients with the coronavirus since the pandemic began and Mazzola says that trend is mirrored in Franklin County.
“We are very concerned that we continue to see significant community spread of this virus,” he said.
The state’s health department said Wednesday that 1,122 people were being treated in Ohio’s hospitals as of Tuesday. That includes 348 intensive care patients.
That overall total tops the previous high number in late April when the state had just over 1,100 patients with COVID-19.
There were over 4,361 active cases of COVID-19 in Franklin County, according to the state health department’s data.
State health director Lance Himes says those who are testing positive are increasingly younger and the increasing numbers show the need to keep up with wearing masks and social distancing.
Mazzola says there has been an increasing number of cases among those people between the ages of 20 and 29.
Columbus City Council this week passed an ordinance ordering bars and restaurants to close at 10:00 p.m. to combat that trend but the directive was put on hold by a judge’s decision before it took effect Tuesday.
The state reported 87,893 confirmed and probable cases Wednesday with 10,553 total hospitalizations since the pandemic began and 3,422 deaths.
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Ohioans no longer need to worry about self-isolating for two weeks after visiting Georgia or Nevada as those states have fallen off the list of states where the rate of positive tests for the coronavirus is 15% or above but Kansas has been added.
Gov. Mike DeWine has asked visitors from those states and Ohioans who have traveled there to isolate themselves for two weeks.