>>> WATCH LIVE | President Trump holds press conference in response to COVID-19<<<
There are now at least 1,653 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Ohio with 29 deaths, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Five of the confirmed deaths are from Miami County.
Ohio Department of Health officials said they do not track the number of recoveries.
Darke County General Health confirmed two more cases of the coronavirus in the county making a total of three. The new cases are both residents of Greenville Health and Rehabilitation facility.
President Trump gave an update this evening.
Here are some of the highlights:
- Social distancing guidelines to be followed until April 30.
- An estimated 2.2 million people would have died if no action was taken against COVID-19.
- "Millions and millions" of PPE equipment items arrived in New York this morning, Trump said.
Watch President Trump’s update LIVE
Gov. Mike DeWine spoke at 2 p.m. about the FDA’s decision to limit Battelle to sterilizing 10,000 masks a day when they have the capability of sterilizing up to 160,000 a day in Ohio alone.
>> RELATED: Coronavirus: FDA changes decision to limit use of Battelle technology to sterilize masks
Here’s what you need to know:
- When addressing FDA's decision on Battelle PPE sterlilzation machines Lt. Jon Husted said, "Sometimes your leaders have to bring energy and urgency to bureaucracy to let them know we have to have this."
- The technology approved by the FDA would allow PPE masks to be sterilized and reused up to 20 times.
- The FDA commissioner assured Gov. DeWine that the technology would be fully approved today, DeWine said.
Here’s what you need to know today:
- Of 1,653 cases in Ohio, 246 cases, or 17 percent, are healthcare workers. Thirty-nine, or 3 percent, are long-term care residents.
- Dr. Amy Acton asks people to help their elderly neighbors, saying she'd prefer for them not to be at the grocery or out in public. COVID-19 is skewing toward the elderly in the U.S. as it is in Italy, she says.
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- Ohio's unemployment site has been expanded by 20 times, said Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.
- Dr. Amy Acton says though models show we could see 8-10,000 new cases a day in Ohio, we have the power to change this. "We are planning for worst-case scenarios with the hope that everything we do will take us away from that number."
Local Confirmed Cases:
- Butler - 27
- Champaign - 2
- Clark - 7
- Clinton - 3
- Darke -3
- Greene - 3
- Miami - 43
- Montgomery - 25
- Shelby - 3
- Warren - 20
Gov. DeWine said the state has received its allotment of PPEs, but still needs supplies. If you have the following, or have the ability to create or manufacture the following, please contact together@governor.ohio.gov.
- Surgical gowns (S, M, L, XL, XXL)
- Face/Surgical masks (adult and pediatric)
- Gloves (nitrile, vinyl, butyl)
- N-94 particulate respirators
- Isolation gowns
- Face shields
- Tyvek coveralls
- Thermometers
- Foot coverings
- Ventilator tubing
Here’s what you need to know today:
- On Saturday, Miami University in Oxford confirmed that one unclassified employee has tested positive for the virus.
- At its peak in Ohio, Dr. Amy Acton said we could see 10,000 new coronavirus cases each day in the state.
- DeWine said models from Cleveland Clinic show the peak arriving in Ohio now in mid-May. Hospitals should be planning for two to three times the current capacity build-out we have at our hospitals, DeWine said.
- The governor has divided the state into eight regions and asked each to draft plans for hospital capacity buildup by 9 a.m. Saturday. The Ohio National Guard will oversee the buildup.
- Today is the sixth day of the stay-at-home order for Ohio. People are expected to stay home until April 6. However, there are some exceptions such as essential businesses and travel for necessary supplies.
- Friday afternoon, the U.S. House approved a $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package by voice vote. President Donald Trump signed the measure a few hours later.
- Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, ordering General Motors to produce ventilators. "They weren't talking right in the beginning," the president said of GM. In partnership with Ventec, a GM plant in Kokomo, Indiana, will build the ventilators, and a previously closed plant in Michigan that once made transmissions now will produce surgical masks.
- Area hotels are cooperating with Operation Stop COVID, the St. Vincent DePaul effort to move people in high-rick health categories into satellite shelters from St. Vincent DePaul's main and two emergency shelters, Executive Director Michael Vanderburgh said.
- Mayor Nan Whaley said to contact her office if you cannot get a prescription because your ID is expired. It is not state law to require an ID to get a prescription, she said. The requirement may be an individual company policy. She said she wants to know specific instances of denials.
- Go to mcohio.org you're looking for work, to volunteer or for more information about SNAP benefits, County Commissioner Judy Dodge said
- "We are begging and pleading with you to stay home," Whaley said, because the virus is moving quickly and a surge is expected in Ohio sometime in May.
- Gov. Mike DeWine signed the emergency bill passed by the Ohio legislature that extended the Ohio primary to April 28 by absentee ballot only. The bill also waives regulations on schools, teachers, and students around requirements that formerly had to happen in person; ensures that state and local governments operate, but safely and in full transparency for the public; extends income tax deadline; and much more.
>>US cases now most in world, US capital sees more infections
- More than 120,000 people have recovered from the virus, according to the Johns Hopkins tally.
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- Those spearheading groups that are for and against the Bellbrook Sugarcreek schools levy said they will have to work harder to make sure voters mail in their ballots under the new directives the state legislature ordered this week.
