Governor DeWine Press Conference Summary for Monday, April 20

Below are the updates from yesterday’s press conference with Governor DeWine and Dr. Acton. Today’s press conference is scheduled for 2:00 PM.  You can watch this on the Ohio Channel, Ohio Public TV (PBS stations), and other Columbus-based outlets.    

Here’s the news from Monday:

• Ohio’s COVID-19 case data is below:
• 12,516 confirmed cases
• 403 probable cases  
• 12,919 total cases
• 2,653 hospitalizations
• 491 confirmed deaths
• 18 probable deaths
• 509 total deaths
• 798 ICU admissions
• More data is available on the COVID-19 Dashboard HERE.  

• Governor DeWine announced that students will continue to go to school remotely for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year. At this time, no decisions have been made regarding whether or not schools will reopen in the fall. 

• Because COVID-19 is disproportionately impacting minority groups in Ohio and across the country, Governor DeWine announced today that he has formed a new Minority Health Strike Force. The Minority Health Strike Force is lead by Ohio Department of Aging Director Ursel McElroy and Director of the Governor’s Recovery Ohio Initiative, Alisha Nelson.  Attached is a list of individuals serving on the strike force.

• Governor DeWine announced today that he has directed the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) to collect more specific information regarding cases of COVID-19 in Ohio nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and hospitals. Nursing home and assisted living data will include COVID-19 cases broken down by the number of residents and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 at nursing homes and assisted living facilities listed by facility and county.  Data will be posted to Coronavirus.Ohio.Gov every Wednesday. Ohio will also begin reporting aggregate death data for nursing homes and assisted living facilities at the county level.  Attached is a statement of support from the Ohio Health Care Association.  

• Governor DeWine also directed the Department of Health to modify the Ohio Disease Reporting System to accurately collect case information for direct care providers at hospitals who have tested positive for COVID-19. The data, which will be available soon on Coronavirus.Ohio.Gov, will be listed by each hospital. 

• Governor DeWine announced today that LabCorp and Quest currently have no backlog of samples and have added more testing capacity. In response to the private laboratories' improved turnaround times, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) will again allow hospitals to utilize commercial laboratories in addition to hospital laboratories performing COVID-19 testing. Attached is the Director's Order rescinding the previous ODH order for private lab testing.  

• Attached is a checklist for essential workers who have potentially been exposed to COVID-19 and another checklist for visiting parks. 

• Ohioans can apply for unemployment benefits online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at unemployment.ohio.gov. It is also possible to file by phone at 877-644-6562 or TTY at 888- 642-8203, Monday through Friday 7AM to 7PM, Saturday 9AM to 5PM, and Sunday 9AM to 1PM. Employers with questions should email UCTech@jfs.ohio.gov.  

As always, Coronavirus.Ohio.Gov and the Department of Health hotline, 1-833-4-ASK-ODH are great resources for those who have questions.