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Coronavirus Pandemic: Statewide mask order issued by DeWine, travel advisory issued

By WHIO Staff
By WHIO Staff

During his Wednesday afternoon briefing, Gov. Mike DeWine announced a mandatory mask order for all counties beginning Thursday at 6 p.m. The Governor also announced a travel advisory to-and-from nine states.

The following announcements have been made:

  • Today’s number is the second highest single day total for cases. The highest was last Friday, DeWine said.
  • The state continues to see an increase in hospitalizations due to the virus. “It’s a slow, but steady increase.” There were 908 patients in hospitals on July 9. Today, there are 1,098 patients in hospitals.
  • DeWine said in a lot of the Red Level 3 counties, including Montgomery and Butler, mask wearing has increased. “I’m very grateful for that.”
  • Preliminary data is showing that the rate increase in red counties is slowing, but cannot yet use the term plateau, DeWine said.
  • DeWine said he expects additional counties to move to Red Level 3 under the Public Health Advisory System when new information is released later this week.
  • Starting Thursday at 6 p.m., a mandatory mask order will be in place for all Ohio counties, DeWine said.
  • Masks must be worn at all times when: At an indoor location that’s not a residence, Outdoors, when unable to keep 6ft social distance from those not in your household, when waiting for, riding, driving, or operating public transportation -taxi, car service, private rideshare.
  • Those under the age of 10 are not required to wear masks, DeWine said.
  • The state will begin airing two new TV commercials to ask everyone to wear masks.
  • A travel advisory is being issued for those travelling to-and-from the following states: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Nevada, Arizona and Idaho.
  • The travel advisory will be updated each week and includes states reporting positive testing rates of 15 percent or higher. Individuals travelling to-and-from those states to self-quarantine for 14 days. Ohio currently has a positive rate of about 6.3 percent, DeWine said.

TRAVEL ADVISORY OHIO 7/22

  • The travel advisory comes as a few weeks ago 45 students traveled to Myrtle Beach together from Belmont County. 16 people initial tested positive for coronavirus, but now that number has grown to 28, DeWine said.
  • DeWine said county fairs need to follow orders that are in effect that includes social distancing and masking.
  • “Unfortunately, we’re starting to see fairs that are not following safety guidelines. An outbreak of 19 cases has been traced back to a county fair,” DeWine said. “We want fairs to continue, but I spoke with county fair managers today and expressed that they must follow the rules.”
  • Gov. DeWine has signed onto a letter to Congressional leadership with 20 other Governors calling for reasonable limited liability protections for businesses, schools, healthcare workers, and governments as they are reopened during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The letter calls for predictable, timely, targeted liability protections to shield employers from legal risks associated with the spread of the novel coronavirus, so long as they are following the appropriate standards of care to protect their employees, customers, and students.
  • DeWine spoke about numerous gatherings, parties or celebrations that have had coronavirus cases linked to them, including a 2-day house party in Miamisburg that prompted Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County to issue a warning to those that attended.
  • The state is planning to give additional guidance to the Ohio High School Athletic Association for sports going forward, however DeWine said he’s not ready to make any additional announcements. “We need to get a little closer,” DeWine said.
  • DeWine said the state has doubled testing since the beginning of the pandemic and he said he wants the state to double that again. On July 20, the state reported 21,128 tests given to Ohioans. “I’d like to get a lot more testing than we have now,” DeWine said. “You also have to do the tracing that goes with it.”

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The White House has announced a 5:30 p.m. press conference with President Donald Trump as well.

Here are some of the highlights from the President’s Tuesday press briefing:

  • The president, who addressed reporters alone, asked that everyone, especially young people, wear a mask if they cannot socially distance. “Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact.” Later, taking a mask from his pants pocket, he said he “will use it gladly, no problem with it.”
  • He called wearing masks “patriotic,” a change from his months-long stance against masks. “If you’re close together, I would say, ‘put on the mask.’ "
  • “Think about patriotism,” he said of wearing a mask. “Maybe it helps.... I wear it when appropriate.”
  • “The vaccines are coming and they’re coming a lot sooner than anyone thought possible,” he said.
  • “Some areas of country doing very well, others doing less well. It will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better. I don’t like saying that, but that’s the way it is,” Trump said.
  • Asked whether he would accept help from China if that country developed a vaccine first, Trump said, “We’re willing to work with anybody who is going to get us a good result.” This response came several minutes after he continued to blame China for the outbreak.

PUBLIC HEALTH ADVISORY SYSTEM LEVELS:

  • Alert Level 1 (Yellow): This level means a county has triggered zero or one of the indicators, and there is an active exposure and spread. Auglaize, Logan, Champaign, Darke, and Shelby are at this level.
  • Alert Level 2 (Orange): This level means a county has triggered two or three indicators and there is an increased risk of exposure and spread. Counties at this level are seeing cases that are growing in the last two weeks. Preble, Mercer, Miami, Greene Clinton, Warren and Clark are at this level.
  • Alert Level 3 (Red): This level means a county has triggered four or five indicators, and there is a very high exposure and spread. Risk is very high. Butler and Montgomery are at this level.
  • Alert Level 4 (Purple): The highest level means a county has triggered six or seven indicators, and there is severe exposure and spread. Officials say to stay home as much as possible when at this level. There are no current counties on this list but Hamilton and Butler are on the watch list.

Other things to know today, Wednesday:

LATEST STATE DATA: As of Wednesday afternoon, there have been at least 78,742 confirmed or probable cases in the state, 3,235 deaths, and 9,864 hospitalizations, according to the Ohio Department of Health. 54,426 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.

Of the state’s positive cases, 6% are from Ohio’s prisons.

Of the state’s positive cases, 15% are from long-term care facilities (nursing homes, assisted living)

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

The state reported that a total of 1,217,262 people have been tested in Ohio, which is about 10 percent of the population.

In the state, 9,243 cases are health care workers, which is 12 percent of the cases.

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

Cox Media Group

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