Coronavirus: ‘This is not a drill,’ DeWine warns Ohioans in stern message

Gov. Mike DeWine issued a stern warning to Ohioans as he addressed the state on the current state of the pandemic, the recent increases in cases and the spread of the virus.

The following was discussed during DeWine’s address from the Governor’s Office:

• Ohioans need to take immediate action to slow the spread of coronavirus, he said, or risk falling into the same category with Florida, Arizona, California and Texas in a matter of weeks.
• DeWine said he will take whatever action he needs to protect citizens in the state, but would not be discussing any new health orders. “That discussion is for another time,” he said. “But orders are not as important as what we all do in the days ahead. The future is in our own hands.”
• The governor praised Ohioans’ efforts at the beginning of the pandemic to bide Ohio’s medical providers and manufacturers time to produce the equipment needed to be prepared for a rise in cases.
• Ohio is seeing its hospitalizations approaching the same numbers the state saw at the pandemic’s peak in April and May. The Dayton region however, is seeing the highest number of hospitalizations since the coronavirus arrived in the state, DeWine said.
• DeWine said testing in the state has gone up 87 percent, but the number of positive cases has grown by almost 200 percent. “Clearly, our number of new cases is not just the result of increased testing,” he said.
• DeWine discussed a quote from an article written yesterday by John Berry, who wrote “The Great Influenza about the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918,” that paints a grim picture if Ohioans don’t slow the spread. The quote read: “This is our second chance. We won’t get a third. If we don’t get the growth of this pandemic under control now, in a few months, when the weather turns cold and forces people to spend more time indoors, we could face a disaster that dwarfs the situation today.”
• DeWine called the coming weeks a “defining time” for Ohioans and their efforts to slow the spread of the virus. “This is not a drill,” he said. “It’s the real thing.”
• The governor issued a plea to Ohioans to wear a face mask. “I am asking you, wherever you live, to wear a mask when in public. Some may question the wisdom of masks, but as we said when I was a prosecutor: ‘The jury is back. The verdict is in.' There is broad consensus in medical, health, and business communities that masks are critical,” DeWine said. Within a couple of weeks of people consistently wearing masks, areas saw a slowdown of the spread of the virus, he said of data from health experts.
• DeWine admits he, like many, have let their guard down when it comes to the virus. “We’re tired. We want to go back to the way things were – and that’s very understandable. But when our guard is down, we’re playing Russian Roulette with our lives,” he said.