Coronavirus: Trump cancels Florida portion of GOP convention; DeWine shares advisory levels

(UPDATE @ 6:02 p.m.): President Trump said he is canceling the Florida portion of the GOP convention, which is scheduled to begin in Jacksonville on Aug. 24.

Delegates will meet in Charlotte, North Carolina, as planned to nominate him and the president said he will deliver a convention speech “in a different form.”

The president said he told his planning team “the timing is not right, with the flare-up of COVID-19.” He said his concern about the people in Florida and the spread of the virus led him to the decision.

He made the announcement during his this White House task force briefing this week on the federal government’s response to the pandemic.

Florida officials did not ask him to cancel the convention, he said.

“Safety,” he said when asked why he decided to cancel the in-person GOP convention in Florida.

Gov. Mike DeWine’s statewide mandatory mask order for every county begins today at 6 p.m.

DeWine made the following announcements during his Thursday news briefing:

• New Public Health Advisory Levels were released:
• 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. Currently, Logan, Darke, and Shelby counties 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. Currently, Preble, Mercer, Champaign Auglaize, Miami, Greene, Clinton, Warren, Butler and Clark Counties 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. Currently, Clark and Montgomery Counties 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 in this level. There are no current counties on this list but Hamilton and Butler counties are on the watch list.
• In Clark County, Over the past 14 days, 113 coronavirus cases have been identified, representing 12% of the total number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Average daily cases have jumped from 5.5 cases July 1 to 12 cases by July 16.
• Some of the outbreaks in Clark County are linked to youth sports and long-term care facilities. One faith-based outbreak had 19 cases.
• DeWine said Butler County is right on the line between the Orange and Red level, despite dropping to Level 2.
• Between June 15 and July 18 the Red Cross reported 33,538 Ohioans donated blood, plasma, or platelets. Of these 436 donors tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies – that’s a 1.3% positivity rate.
• The Red Cross reported that nationwide, the positivity rate among donors was 1.4%. It’s important to remember the Red Cross data does not represent all parts of the state equally. For example, Cincinnati and the Dayton area are served by two independent blood banks.
• During the same time period (June 15-July 18), hospitals and private labs performed 37,803 antibody tests for Ohioans with 1,624 positives. That’s a higher positivity rate than the Red Cross sample. “But these individuals sought out antibody testing and may have done so because they suspected they may have had COVID-19 at some point,” Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said.
• $50 million from state funding through the federal CARES Act will be allocated to providing hotspots and internet-enabled devices to students. Schools can apply for a matching grant from the state. For every dollar they put toward connecting in-need students to the internet, the state will match and double purchasing power.
• DeWine said the vast majority of bar owners are doing a good job at following the protocol, based on inspections by agents. “Although the vast majority of those running bars are doing a great job, we do know of outbreaks in Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, Athens, Henry County, Lawrence County, Medina County, and Sandusky County that have been traced back to bars,” DeWine said.

Things you should know today, Thursday:

• Masks must be worn at all times when you are at an indoor location that’s not a residence; outdoors; when you cannot maintain 6 feet of social distance from those not in your household; when waiting for, riding, driving or operating public transportation such as a bus, taxi, car service or private ride share. People younger than 10 years old are not required to wear masks.
• DeWine’s mask order was followed by the imposition of a travel advisory to-and-from nine states. The advisory will be updated weekly and include states reporting positive testing rates of 15 percent or higher. Individuals traveling to-and-from those states will be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days. Ohio’s a positive rate is about 6.3 percent, DeWine said.
• The state continues to see a”slow, but steady increase” in hospital admissions because of the virus. There were 908 patients in hospitals on July 9 and 1,098 on July 22.
• The travel advisory comes as a few weeks ago 45 students traveled to Myrtle Beach together from Belmont County. 16 people initially tested positive for coronavirus, a number that has grown to 28, DeWine said. He also mentioned 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 who attended.
• County fairs need to follow orders that are in effect, including on 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.
• DeWine has signed onto a letter to Congressional leadership with 20 other governors calling for reasonable limited liability protections for businesses, schools, health care workers, and governments as they reopen. The letter calls for predictable, timely, targeted liability protections to shield employers from legal risks associated with the spread of the virus as long as they are following appropriate standards of care to protect employees, customers and students.
• Ohio has doubled testing since the beginning of the pandemic and DeWine wants the state to double that again. On July 20, the state reported 21,128 tests given to Ohioans. “You also have to do the tracing that goes with it,” he said.

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, Thursday:

• A mass food distribution will be held for Greene County residents Thursday at the Nutter Center in Fairborn.
• Organizers in Wayne County, Indiana, announced a mask distribution event will be held Saturday at three locations in Richmond.

LATEST STATE DATA: As of Thursday afternoon, there have been at least 80,186 confirmed or probable cases in the state, 3,256 deaths, and 9,968 hospitalizations, according to the Ohio Department of Health. 55,702 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 1,240,659 people have been tested in Ohio, which is about 10 percent of the population.

In the state, 9,341 cases are health care workers, which is 12 percent of the cases.

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

Cox Media Group