Coronavirus Update for Ohio 4/30
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine did his daily update on the coronavirus during today’s press conference at 2p.m. Thursday. DeWine acknowlegded National Adopt a Pet Day that happened this past Wednesday and showed a picture of a cute dog.
DeWine talks about where he is sending the PPE supplies. He said that they are sending PPE supplies where they are most needed which are nursing homes and correction facilities.
“We want to do everything we can to keep them safe,” DeWine Said. 1.1 million PPE Supplies have been sent to the prisons. 108,095 masks, 256,000 gloves, 10,000 provider gowns, 10,000 cloth masks, and 684 procedure masks. “Our goal is to keep a 90 day supply of the most critical equipment.” Doing this follows the guidelines that the CDC laid out. \
Dr. Michael Para and Annette Chambers-Smith join the press conference via Skype with DeWine. Chambers-Smith runs down how she is keeping Ohio prison staff safe during these difficult times.
Chambers- Smith said, “Covid is not when we started planning. We started planning in 2009 with H1N1 and ironically I was the health authority for the department during H1N1, and it was during my time as the health authority we created the pandemic plan to begin with.
Chambers-Smith tested people in the Marion prison system for Covid-19 to see if they were symptomatic and needed to be moved somewhere else. Marion had so many people that were symptomatic and positive for Covid-19 that it stopped plans to move prisoners to another prison so they couldn’t infect anyone else.
Dr. Para agrees with Chambers-Smith’s approach of testing people that might be sick and getting them into the medical facilities so they can get treatment. This meets the need to seek medical treatment while in prison.
Dr. Amy Acton takes the podium to present updated stats about the coronavirus. As of April 30th we are at 18,027 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ohio. There have been 3,533 hospitalizations and 975 deaths due to the virus. Taking in consideration the population of Ohio the number is actually low. It’s still sad that Ohio is approaching 1,000 deaths in total due to the virus.
DeWine answered a few questions after that stats update. Ben Schwartz with WCPO asked DeWine “If he had a message for Ohioans not taking the social distancing guidelines seriously.”
DeWine explained that the best way to stop the spread is to social distance. When you don’t practice social distancing you’re endangering other people and that is a concern and a problem. DeWine answered a question about businesses reopening before the May 12th date.
He said, “We’re trying to phase these things in and we’re trying to continue to buy some time so that the spread does not go up again. We hope people will follow the law. I fully understand everyone is anxious to get moving again but this is a balance. We’re trying to open up as fast as we can but at the same time protect the public.”
