COLUMBUS – State health officials have updated their guidance for schools on quarantine and isolation in the face of the fast-spreading omicron variant of COVID-19.
In a memo to school districts and local health officials Wednesday, the Ohio Department of Health advise that contact tracing in schools will no longer be needed, according to a report by WBNS 10-TV.
The memo says schools should continue to follow the “Mask to Stay, Test to Play” protocol and allow asymptomatic students to attend school while wearing a mask if they have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, the station reported.
Free masks
Kroger begins handing out free non-surgical N95 masks supplied by the federal government to customers and workers on Thursday.
The masks, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have encouraged Americans to wear, can be obtained at any Kroger store with a pharmacy while, supplies last, according to the Cincinnati-based grocery store chain.
Customers are limited to three masks apiece.
The Biden administration has authorize the distribution of 400 million masks from the Strategic National Stockpile as part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, the largest distribution of personal protective equipment in history, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said.
Weekly jobless claims slightly lower
The number of Ohioans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits dipped last week, the second straight weekly decline.
The Department of Job and Family Services reported that there were 15,158 initial traditional unemployment claims filed during the week that ended Jan. 22, a small 1.5% decrease.
Ohioans filed 59,626 continued claims last week, 1% fewer than the week before.
The state process 74,784 total claims for jobless benefits, according to data provided Thursday to the U.S. Department of Labor, also a miniscule drop from the week before.
Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week following three straight increases economists blamed on the surge in cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19.
Ohio’s unemployment rate in December was 4.5%, a pandemic-era low, while the national unemployment rate in December was 3.9%.