Governor DeWine Press Conference Summary for October 13, 2020

Below are the updates from Governor DeWine’s press conference. The next press conference is currently scheduled for Thursday, October 15^th at 2:00 PM.   

Here’s the news from Tuesday: 

• Ohio’s COVID-19 case data is below:
• 161,678 confirmed cases
• 9,948 probable cases  
• 171,626 total cases
• 16,565 hospitalizations
• 4,709 confirmed deaths
• 308 probable deaths
• 5,017 total deaths
• 3,447 ICU admissions
• More data is available on the COVID-19 Dashboard HERE.

• Governor DeWine cautioned that the continuing increase in COVID-19 cases indicates that significant numbers of infections are likely this winter unless citizens take steps to mitigate and control the spread of the virus. 

• In the last seven days, Ohio COVID-19 cases have averaged 1,475 cases per day by report date as compared to an average of approximately 1,000 cases per day only two weeks ago. Ohio's current positivity rate is 4.1 percent as compared to 2.7 percent on September 23 and 24. A total of 51 counties are considered high incidence and/or Alert Level 3 on Ohio's Public Health Advisory System. 

• Governor DeWine announced a new advertisement featuring former Ohio State coaches Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer encouraging everyone to stay in the game and to stick to the game plan. 

• Governor DeWine encouraged parents not to delay their children's well-visit vaccinations. In the coming days, the Ohio Department of Medicaid will launch several initiatives to encourage childhood immunizations among its members. 

• Governor DeWine also unveiled a new advertisement that stresses the importance of childhood vaccines.  

• Governor DeWine announced the creation of a new Lab Capacity Dashboard to help pharmacists, nursing homes, colleges and universities, employers, and others administering COVID-19 tests find a lab to run their samples. This new resource will help connect groups that are testing with available labs in order to ease turnaround times and inform Ohioans of their COVID-19 status. Labs with available capacity can sign up on the website to be included in this dashboard. 

• Governor DeWine discussed plans for Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 antigen screening tests that the federal government is providing to Ohio. This week, Ohio is deploying thousands of these screening tests to colleges and universities to help them implement proactive screening plans. Next week, Ohio will begin sending tens of thousands of screening tests to nursing homes for both routine and outbreak testing requirements. 

• Governor DeWine emphasized that lab-based PCR tests are still considered the “gold standard” test that provides the most accurate results, and antigen tests can have false positives and false negatives. He also cautioned that testing should not be considered a substitute for precautions such as wearing masks, social distancing, and avoiding large gatherings.  

• Attached are the slides that Governor DeWine used during today’s press conference. 

• 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.