Coronavirus Pandemic: DeWine announces sports can go forward, performing arts orders coming

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Gov. Mike DeWine’s highly anticipated announcement on high school sports was made this afternoon, when he said all fall sports will be permitted to continue.

DeWine said the announcement comes with a restriction on the amount of fans, saying only family members will be allowed to attend.

>> RELATED: OHSAA releases return-to-play plan as DeWine announces order allowing fall sports to continue

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The following announcements have been made:

  • DeWine said the Ohio Veteran’s Home, which is a nursing home in Brown County, had its first case since the pandemic began. The case is an employee.
  • Dr. Jim Borchers said the healthiness of the community is key to protecting athletes who are participating in athletics.
  • Six of the top 10 counties in the state for highest occurance of COVID-19 are in the Miami Valley. Mercer County remained number one in the state and number two is Darke County. Preble, Shelby, Champaign and Auglaize counties also were in the top 10. Darke County also has been the site of a significant outbreak at Rest Haven nursing home in Greenville.
  • The state’s positive rate continues to decline, with a 4.5% positive rate average over the last seven days.
  • The sports order being issued by the state will allow all sports to go forward this fall, beginning Aug. 21.
  • Under the sports order the following will happen:
  • No spectators other than family members of the athletes. Schools will dictate the policies in those areas, DeWine said. Parents of marching band participants will also be permitted to attend.
  • Schools that want to move contact sports like football, soccer and field hockey to the Spring, if they decide to do so, will be allowed to, according to DeWine. He said this decision was made after consulting with the Ohio High School Athletic Association. Several urban districts in the state, including Dayton Public, has postponed the fall sports season.
  • The Ohio High School Athletic Association will have site inspectors at contests making sure rules under the order are being followed. If rules are not followed, forfeiture of games may happen, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said.
  • DeWine said schools will be the decision makers on whether sports in each district will be played.
  • DeWine said the state is planning to issue new orders this week on performing arts.

Things you need to know today, Tuesday:

Other things you should know today:

LATEST STATE DATA: As of Tuesday afternoon, there have been at least 109,923 confirmed or probable cases in the state, 3,871 deaths, and 12,436 hospitalizations, according to the Ohio Department of Health. 89,068 people are presumed to have recovered from the virus in the state.

Ohio has an estimated population of approximately 11.7 million, census records show.

[ Local cases, deaths reported to Ohio Department of Health ]

There have been 1,863,180 people tested for the coronavirus in Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

A total of 12,314 health care workers have tested positive which is about 11 percent of the cases.

[ Local cases, deaths reported to Ohio Department of Health ]