Governor DeWine Press Conference Summary for Thursday, December 17, 2020

Below are the updates from Governor DeWine’s press conference. The next press conference is currently scheduled for Monday, December 21^st at 2:00 PM.  

Here’s the news from Thursday: 

• Ohio’s COVID-19 case data is below:
• 542,686 confirmed cases
• 53,492 probable cases  
• 596,178 total cases
• 33,745 hospitalizations
• 7,241 confirmed deaths
• 653 probable deaths
• 7,894 total deaths
• 5,382 ICU admissions
• More data is available on the COVID-19 Dashboard HERE.

• Governor DeWine released Ohio's updated Public Health Advisory System map: This week’s data shows sustained severe exposure and spread (Purple Level 4) in Richland County. Medina, Portage, Stark, and Summit counties all moved from Purple Level 4 to Red Level 3 this week. Governor DeWine cautioned that a decrease from Level 4 to Level 3 does not indicate that the situation in these counties is improving, but rather that healthcare indicators, such as hospitalizations, are plateauing at a very critical level.  

• Tomorrow, as part of the federal program to vaccinate nursing home residents and staff, facilities in Ohio will be among the first in the nation to receive vaccines through Walgreen’s, CVS, PharmScript, and Absolute Pharmacy. Ohio was invited by the CDC to participate in the scaling up of the federal program. 

• CALL TO ACTION: Governor DeWine unveiled a new public service announcement featuring four of Ohio's frontline nurses. The nurses describe what it’s like taking care of COVID patients in Ohio's hospitals. Please help amplify this important message by sharing with your networks. 

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

• As part of the Administration’s efforts to continue sharing information about COVID-19, our team has created several “Coalition Communication Fact Sheets” for industries, including: agriculture, healthcare, philanthropy, higher-ed, k-12 education, faith based, business, tourism and arts, law enforcement, and local government. These documents will be updated each week and include helpful talking points, sample social media posts, resources, updated COVID data, etc. If you would like to regularly receive any of these documents, please contact the Governor's office.  

• Ohioans filed 38,327 initial and 274,658 continued jobless claims last week, according to statistics the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) reported to the U.S. Dept. of Labor today. In addition, 262,514 Ohioans received Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) last week. 

• Over the last 39 weeks, ODJFS has distributed more than $7.5 billion in unemployment compensation payments to more than 868,000 Ohioans. In addition, ODJFS has issued more than $7.4 billion in PUA payments to more than 756,000 Ohioans. 

• 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.