Coronavirus Pandemic: DeWine pushing hospitals, industries to plan for exiting curve

It is important to note the number of confirmed cases is not a true reflection of actual cases in the state because of the limited amount of testing available. The hope is that the number of cases will be more accurate because of the expansion of the testing standards.

The state remains under an extended stay-at-home order until May 1.

Gov. DeWine provided a 2 p.m. update on the state’s response to the pandemic.

The following announcements were made:

• The Ohio Department of Public Safety and Battelle have now partnered to sanitize N-95 masks for all of Ohio’s first responders. Battelle is providing this service for free. Area agencies can drop off their masks at state patrol posts throughout Ohio, who will then take them to Battelle to be sanitized and return them to the post for area agencies to pick them back up

• Ohio State Wexner Medical Center and Ohio State’s colleges of Medicine, Engineering and Dentistry along with the Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence, Infectious Diseases Institute, and Institute for Materials Research, collaborated with a national consortium that rapidly deployed a design and testing program for 3D-printed testing swabs. OSU teams are working with 3D Manufacturing companies, including FormLabs, Inc. in Toledo, and academic institutes across the state to manufacture these swabs and swab kits in significant numbers. The first order of 15,000 3D printed swabs for COVID-19 test kits will be delivered to OSU, with a target of 200,000 swabs and swab kits to be shared in partnership with the Ohio Department of Health and hospital systems in Ohio, allowing more people to be tested by the end of April
• Two more inmates at the Pickaway Correctional Institution have died from suspected COVID-19
• DeWine approved the early release of 105 inmates from Ohio’s prisons. DeWine also mentioned that Ohio dropped its overall prison population by 311 inmates last week because of the efforts of the local courts to reduce their jail populations and to hold only critical hearings
• DeWine said Ohio has flattened the curve and he feels good about the capacities at the state’s hospitals. He said elective surgeries are still being postponed because of the lack of personal protective equipment
• The governor has asked the Ohio Hospital Association to come to him with a plan for getting back to the health care delayed or deferred (elective surgeries) because of the pandemic. The governor asked them to be mindful of the the lack of PPE and widespread testing
• DeWine is also asking each industry in the state to start putting together plans for how they would protect employees and customers when they are allowed to open up
• More unemployment claims were filed in the last month than in the last two years, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said
• Prior to the pandemic, the unemployment call center had 42 people taking calls. There are now 1,194 people taking calls and there is still the need for more
• The state is working to add to the call center automated bot technology to assist with frequently asked questions, a virtual call center more than 300 new staffers and improvements to the e-application for individual customers, Husted said
• Acton said the state is developing a children’s version of the daily updates from the Statehouse to help serve the state’s youth population
• Acton said the state hasn’t ordered universal mask usage, but the state understands that homemade-type masks are important. “These masks are part of the future,” said

Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County held its news briefing this afternoon.

Here are the highlights:

• CLOTH FACE MASKS: The cloth face mask is not a substitute for the social distancing and stay-at-home orders, Health Director Jeff Cooper said. The face mask is becoming more and more of a recommendation across the country for every one to wear one. Children younger than 2 or people who have breathing difficulties do not need to use a cloth face mask, he said
• N95 MASK REPAIRS: Volunteer sewers have been attaching new elastic to replace failed elastic from N95 masks, to get them back to first responders, health care workers and other medical professionals, said Tracy Clare, Emergency Preparedness Training Specialist, Public Health Dayton & Montgomery County. The critical need is for elastic. If you want to donate, bring elastic to the thrift store at 945 Edwin C. Moses Blvd. A T-shirt also can be used to fashion a face mask, she said. Instructions will be posted to the Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County website.
• HOSPITAL VISITOR RESTRICTIONS: While the hospital visitor restrictions are challenging, they are being used to protect patients and front line workers, said Sarah Hackenbracht, president and CEO, Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association. The restrictions will remain in effect until the governor lifts the state of emergency, she said. Restrictions have been amended for maternity patients

President Trump and the White House coronavirus task force is expected to hold a news briefing this afternoon.

Here are the highlights:

• REOPENING STATES: Trump said he and Vice President Pence are to speak with governors Thursday to provide guidance on how to reopen state economies. “They are chomping at the bit to get going,” Trump said. “We miss sports. We miss everything,” he said. “We’ll be the comeback kids. All of us,” he said. “They’ll safe. They’ll be strong. We’re going to do. We’re going to do it soon.” The task force has seen declines in the number of new cases across the country, task force member Dr. Deborah Birx said. There are still fatalities, but fewer than in other countries, she said. There are nine states that have fewer than 1,000 new cases a day, she said, but she did not identify those states. Trump said 29 states “are in good shape” to reopen but did not explain what he meant
• FOOD SECURITY: “The American food supply is strong, resilient and safe,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said. He called food supply chain workers, like front line health care workers and first responders, heroes. “We have plenty of food for our citizens. The empty shelves you see in grocery stores across the country, it is a demand issue, not a supply issue,” he said
• TRUMP NAME ON STIM CHECKS: The president said he didn’t know too much about the Treasury Department announcement Tuesday night that his name is being added to stimulus checks, but said he thinks people will be happy “to get a big fat check with my name on it.”

Talk of the state emerging from a stay-at-home order focused not on a date, but on behaviors Ohioans will have to practice as part of a “new normal” until a vaccine is developed in a year to 18 months.

Issues that continue to block any kind of serious talk about reopening the state include a lack of testing, a lack of Personal Protective Equipment and a lack of resolve on the part of many people who for whatever reason are not wearing face masks when they venture out to shop or run errands.

Dr. Amy Acton, state health department director, said any kind of "new normal" will come with attachments.

"It will include these [face] masks and it will include us having to be honest when we're sick and stay home and tell our doctor and it will have to have safeguards for people who need to stay home and be sick but not lose their job," she said Tuesday during the briefing from the Statehouse with Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.

And those most vulnerable -- people suffering from any of a host of underlying medical conditions that worsen under the attack of the coronavirus -- may need to continue doing as much social distancing as possible, Acton said.

Complicating all of it is the fact that most of the 11.6 million Ohio residents have not contracted COVID-19.

DeWine, for his part, repeated what he said Monday about reopening the state: People are not going to go back to work if they are afraid. People are not going to leave their homes if they are afraid

The governor and Acton have said there first has to be a sustained leveling off in new cases before any orders can be relaxed.

Here’s what you need to know for today, Wednesday:

• A new state order will share with dispatchers the names and address of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 so first responders can properly protect themselves when responding to an emergency. This information will be kept confidential, Gov. DeWine said
• Acton said the state is working to build a response system that will help the state better trace cases across the state. The idea is to allow immediate response to any flare ups of cases. Additional details will be released as the system is developed
• Not enough people are wearing cloth face masks, even though wearing them is a state and national recommendation, said Jeff Cooper, health commissioner, Public Health -- Dayton & Montgomery County. The agency wants businesses to move toward making customers wear masks. “As a common courtesy, please wear a cloth face mask," Cooper said in a public plea. "It protects essential employees of the businesses you support. We all have to do our part to flatten this curve.”
• The Trump administration is partnering with several hospital associations and health care systems, including the Cleveland Clinic, to create a “Dynamic Ventilator Reserve” that will create and maintain a stock of unused ventilators for future national medical emergencies. Numbers will be tracked via a database, one medical official said. More than 20 of the nation’s largest health care systems have pledged 4,000 ventilators, should the nation need them, Trump said.

Here’s what else you need to know:

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• Coronavirus live updates from around the nation, world