988,298 cases in Ohio; 415,770 in Kentucky; 672,554 in Indiana

Good afternoon, everyone. Interesting piece of trivia today marks the 150th press conference that we have done since the pandemic began just a little over a year ago. The first one was in Cleveland on February 27th. Well, I want to Metro Health. We toured the facility and talked about prevention in education efforts. Now, more than a year later, we're here. We moved through many stages of the pandemic, and I think we're in a much better place today. I want to thank the Ohio Channel for their work and helping us share our press conferences with Ohioans and thank all the TV stations who have carried this broadcast as well as the radio stations. I also want to thank our press team who have done a phenomenal job behind the camera. Eric Porter. You can't see him. But Eric, thank you. Eric's done 148 of these, I guess, and Michael Murray, who is also here I want to thank him. He's been here, I think, for virtually all of these, uh, as well. Michael is our deputy deputy chief of staff. So it's, uh, been interesting year today we began vaccinating 50 year olds in Ohio. And we also added, uh, those with type two diabetes, end stage renal disease, and that is moving forward very, very fast today as I talked to different providers as far as the vaccination sites being starting to be filled up, Um, I continue visits around Ohio this morning. Fran, I were in Clark County who are people receiving the Covid vaccine at the Upper Valley Mall. I want to thank the Clark County Health Department. Thank Commissioner Charlie Paterson. Help thank them for the great job that they're doing. Zanesville. Yesterday I was in Zanesville, the Maple Terrace and Metropolitan Housing Authority. High rise for older Ohioans and Ohio and disabilities. The Zanesville Muskingum County Health Department is also doing a phenomenal job. Thank the Health Commissioner, Corey Hamilton, as well. Tuesday, I was in Columbus at the Ohio State University Schottenstein Center, thanks to everyone at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center for their smooth operation. I want to thank Dr Andy Thomas for his his leadership and his work there. We're gonna now go to the lieutenant governor and the lieutenant governor is back home in Williams County and, uh, he's visiting Williams County Public health vaccination site. John, you wanna tell us a little bit? Uh, exactly where you are, and I see no appeal. Your high school sign right there? Yeah, absolutely. Governor, we are here at Superior School, which is the school where I went to junior high playing my high school basketball games here. We're at a pop up site here in Williams County where they're going to have to be open from nine. To three today. We are going to do 100 or 840 people are gonna receive their first dose of Pfizer today. So far, there have been a total of 5623 vaccines given here, Um, 3007 and 75 our first doses. So the number of second doses is 1848 and we're gonna vaccinate a few folks here today in Williams County. We know that the message is more shots we get in arms, the more people will get vaccinated, the quicker we get through this. And I have the mayor of failure with me today. Here, uh, governor, he's gonna get his vaccine right now, so we have. We have a couple of other folks here. Uh, next one of Shirley Fry who three of us actually went to the same church growing up and surely was my babysitter when I was a little bit. So we've got We've got a lot of fun friends and connections. And Tammy Rigas, sir, who is, uh, is going to be the health nurse who is going to providing vaccinations. Awesome. Thank you very much. Yeah, but, uh, we're not governor able to get out and see everybody right now, but they have a really efficient operation here, moving people through. Also, I might mention, Health Commissioner Jim Watkins is here today. He's done a great job, uh, organizing this and helping to make this an efficient process. Uh, here in Williams County. So the mayor is done. How was good? Feeling good. And now we have Shirley Fried, Shirley, Say hi to the Governor. Governor. Hello? This morning, when he heard that my babysitter was going to actually get so surely do you have any stories that any stories to share with us about John? That's what they asked me. And I said he was really very good I love babysit, but I have to admit that they preferred my sister because she let them stay up late. And I did as you would expect, Right? Right? Uh huh. Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Great. And, uh, Governor, we have one more person to get vaccinated, and that's me. I finally qualify. We get my eight band, so I'm gonna get my vaccine and and do my part, So to get this thing behind us, that's great, you know. Okay. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Uh huh. Yeah. You have to fight for my country. Thank you. There we go. Thanks, Tammy. So, Governor were, uh, we've got three more down on our on our road to get, uh, everybody who is willing to to get vaccinated today, Uh, throughout the course of this time frame that we have. And I will tell you that we've done many of these on our on our muse conferences where we get tested with the swab in the nose. And then we get the needle in the arm and the needle in the arm is a lot more president. I'll say that that was my experience as well. Oh, well, great mayor. Thank you very much and surely thank you. And, John, Thank you. And John will be back to you in a few minutes. Great. Thanks, Governor. Talk a little bit about the Cleveland Mass vaccination site. Working with our FEMA partners, we began to open appointments this morning for the Cleveland Mass. Vaccination clinic. That site begins on March 17th. Next Wednesday, Ari. Today more than 17,000 Ohioans have registered to get their vaccine at the site. They've We've been working with community partners to ensure that traditionally underserved members of our community have access to the vaccine if they choose to get it like everyone else choose to get. Our goal is to make it accessible for every every Ohioan. This site will be open for a number of weeks, and many more appointments will be available during the coming days. We encourage Ohioans to continue to check the website regularly because more appointments are being added in partnership with FEMA. So they're off to a good start already. Let's turn now to a nursing home visitation. This week, the federal government announced new national guidelines for nursing home visitation. They clearly state that facilities should always allow responsible indoor visitation for all residents, regardless of vaccination, status of the resident or of the vision. Of course, there'll be some exceptions to this that just wanna facility is experiencing an outbreak of the virus. The bottom line is that these new guidelines emphasize the importance of every nursing home resident receiving a vaccine. It's a federal pharmacy program wraps up. We're implementing our vaccine maintenance program to ensure new nursing home residents and employees, or those residents and employees who previously declined getting a vaccine. They're going to have another chance. They'll have continuous chances to get to get that vaccine. We know that the physical separation which our loved ones, um, who are nursing homes that the COVID has caused has really taken an emotional toll on many, many people on the residents, on their friends, their families. These new regulations just issued by the federal government, certainly a step closer to return to weigh things used to be in the way that we want them to be. How Department of Aging director or sell McIlroy is joining us to talk about these new rules. So again, Director new rules, new guidelines from the federal government just out this week In regard to our nursing homes, you want to explain a little bit more about those guidelines? Absolutely. Thank you, Governor. This is certainly a sign that we are on the road back after, UH, quite a long year. So I'll take a few minutes to discuss some of the highlights of the federal guidance and what it means for Ohio's nursing homes. As you stated, essentially, facilities should allow responsible indoor visitation at all times for all residents, regardless of vaccination status of the resident or visitor. Um, there are some exceptions, and when visitation would be limited. So I want to walk through those. One exception, Um, if in fact you have an unvaccinated resident who is within a building that sits within a covid 19 county that has a positivity rate of greater than 10% and also within that building if less than 70% of those residents in that facility are fully vaccinated. So essentially, what we're saying here and what CMS has said is that if you have a building that's an accounting where we have a lot of spread, and if within that building we don't have a high percentage of residents vaccinated. Those residents that are not vaccinated would not be in a position to have visitors. Another exception is when you have residents who have confirmed covid 19 cases, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, until they are able to meet the criteria for us to discontinue any transmission based precaution. So as long as that individual is covid, whether they're vaccinated or not, that would limit their visitation. And then those residents who aren't quarantine again, whether vaccinated, unvaccinated until they meet the criteria for released from quarantine. Now we understand that outbreaks increase the risk of covid 19 transmission. But we also understand that the facility should not restrict visitation for all residents. As long as there is evidence that virus transmission is contained to a single area of the facility. It's expected that the facility will continue to adhere to regulations and guidance for their testing for both their staff and residents. But again, if there's evidence that that spread is only contained to a particular place, uh, then, in fact, the facility should not restrict visitation for everyone. However, when a new case of covid among residents or staff is identified, the first thing the facility must do is to begin outbreak testing. During that testing period, they will suspend visitation until at least one round of testing has been completed in the building. When they have completed that one round of testing visitation can resume based on the following criteria. Uh, if that first round of testing reveals no covid cases in other areas, just one area, then visitation will resume in those virus free areas. However, if during that testing, they determine that there is covid in multiple areas of the building at that point, they will have to suspend visitation for the entire building. Mm. I do want to take a moment, sir, if I could, also to stress again that the facilities and the visitors will have to continue all of the good infection prevention and control practices they've used throughout. It's also important to note that in addition to everything I've stated, I want to remind everyone that compassionate care visits are always allowed, regardless of even the exceptions that I just outlined. And if you feel like you're not being allowed to visit your loved one, please contact our office of the long term care ombudsman. That's at 1 800 to 8 to 1 to 06 So, director, I'm going to be honest. I find this complicated, and I suspect that other people will find it complicated as well. So where can people go? And again? These are federal CMS regulations, and I think one of the things that's sort of been missed during this during this time is how much the federal government is controlling through their regulations. Throughout this pandemic. The visitation procedures they really set the broad guidelines that we have to follow. We might fill in the the blanks a little bit, but they set the broad, the broad guidelines. So if someone wants to look this up, if you have to love somebody out there who's watching, has a loved one in a nursing home? And they say, I'm not really sure what all that means. Or can they look this up? Absolutely. So we post anything, uh, they can go to one of two places. We always post everything at coronavirus dot Ohio dot gov. So, again, our normal sight coronavirus down Ohio dot gov as well as aging dot Ohio dot gov. So you'll have resources that help to clarify some of the federal guidance as well as provides you with resources for the ombudsman should you need assistance advocating for visitation. And I would just say like a lot of things in health care. Uh, it's always good to If you have a loved one in a nursing home, someone needs to be their advocate. Um, and if you think there's a problem with visitation in that nursing home you need somebody needs to become the Advocate, uh, for for visitation with that particular individual. And the more you know about it, the more you can look it up and understand what your rights are. Um, that's great. If they don't understand their rights, who do they call director? It's going to be the long term care ombudsman at 1 800 to 8 to 1 to 06 And so I will say throughout, I believe we've had many families and residents as well reach out, and we've I believe I've been very responsive, and we've worked with the facilities the families often times to be able to facilitate visits where, perhaps if we hadn't become involved, those visits wouldn't have happened. So let me just may be summarized. You tell me if this is this is right or not. Basically, visitation is allowed. There may be some exceptions. Those exceptions may depend on what is going on in that particular nursing home. Or it may depend on what if there's a lot of spread going on in the county in which that nursing home is physically located? Absolutely. That is correct. That is correct. And and and so we have also posted as well. On our website. We try to keep our website updated so that people also have a good understanding of exactly where that particular facility is, uh, in relation to positivity and what sort of visitation they can have at this point. Okay, and you showed me some charts today or any of those charts up is the one chart, maybe up that people could see it, not today. But if they could see it. And if you have an Eric there or not. Yeah, is that is that? Has that been up? Okay, you had up. I couldn't see if it was up. Okay, that's that's, you know, that's that's that's good. And these numbers these you know who's in who's in red who's in green? Uh, you know, that's gonna change by the by the week. The other thing I would add, uh, while we're still on nursing homes is this. If you have a loved one in a nursing home and they have not been vaccinated, they still can get vaccinated. Um, if you are a new employee in a nursing home and you've not been vaccinated, you can get vaccinated if you are an older employee, longtime employee or you've been in the nursing home and you said before now I don't want the vaccine. But now you said, I want the vaccine. They will get you the vaccine because we have this. We have a program to get vaccine into every single nursing home. And so as we move along, we want to make sure that we continue to be able to vaccine anybody in that nursing home employee or a resident who wants that director. Let me turn real quickly. Um, if you could tell us now, let's switch to the broad, broad topic assisted living. So let's go from the nursing homes. Now let's go to assisted living. You wanna talk very briefly if you could capitalize Where are we with visitation and assisted living? Absolutely. So I'm glad you asked, because it is important to make the distinction between the different types of long term care facilities, who their residents are and what that means for safe visitation. Um, we just finished talking about nursing homes, which we refer to a skilled nursing facilities. And often those residents do need the highest level of care, and they are subject to the federal guidance from their centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, or what we call CMS are assisted. Living facilities are not subject to that same federal guidance, but they should be allowing visits under R Ohio order. But it is expected that leased facilities allow visitation whenever possible to ensure good resident physical and mental well being. They can do this by following the safety standards we've set forth in our order, and so again, if you're not having visits in your assisted living facility, I would again encourage you to reach out to our real advancement. And we are changing the order and going to be allowing visitation in assisted living in people's rooms. So very excited about that, excited about that, and we've had that request, and we're gonna We're gonna do that. So that will be coming again. If there's a problem with that, you can always call the omnibus person. And we'll try to run that down for you, Director. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Eric. Let's go look at the data for the day cases. Um, you can kind of see how they're going up a little bit and then down. But again, they're below their below the 21 day average, which is good Hospitalizations a little bit above. I see you. Admission is a little bit down from there. We'll go to an excellent Eric. Um, 88 counties ranked by high occurrence. So this is the chart that we've been showing you for some time and again, it has tried to level things out between counties based on population. It measures the covid amount of covid for the last two weeks. Um, 400,000 population. So it evens everybody out, and then we can take a look at that. And if you recall, we set the state goal. If we can get statewide below 50 um, then we'll be able to take off off the health orders. We have ways to go. I will show you a minute that we've really made some progress here. But let me look at this. The white counties, the white counties are counties that are now below 100. The counties that Orient Blue or those above 100 100 is high instance level. So still, most of our counties high incidence level. But the good news is the number of those below 100 are going or going up. And so you can see this line continues to creep up, and more and more of the white white counties. That's that is that is great again. This goes from the top and you can see the number generally is coming down, even even the highest county, which is, I believe Washington County is to 75. And there was a time when that number was 1100 for the highest county, 1200. So that's great progress. Mhm. We told you that every Thursday we would give you the new number. The statewide average it has gone down in the last week were 1 55 1 55. Um, so let's let's talk a little bit about this data. Um, the number of counties below the high incident threshold, as I said, continues to drop. And so do the the number of new cases across the state of Ohio. Last week we were a little below 180 cases per 100,000 in that two week period. Throughout this for the whole state of Ohio. As of today, it's gone from that a little bit below 180 to 155. Um, that is great progress. This is still a highly elevated level. It's above the what the CDC says is high incidence level, but the data is certainly trending in the right direction. So now we're gonna look at a new chart, and this is a chart that I ask our team to put together. This shows the statewide average of cases per 100,000 residents for a two week period since March. Since March of last year, you will see that our peak was at 845 in mid December. Today we're at 1. 55 let me go through. Um, Fran went through for me, pulled some of these this data just a moment ago and I'm going to read by by month. And this is this was in May. Um, it may. We were at 43 June. We were at 46 statewide. By July, it had gone up to 114. August. It was 70. September 75 and then we start taking off October. And these are all these are all the latter part of the month. So September at September 23rd, we're at 75. By October 28th, we were at 200 then by November, 25th around Thanksgiving were 7. 50. Then, in December December 16th, we're at 8. 45. Um, and then January 20th were 6. 20 February 10th. We were down to 3. 40. And now March 10th, we were at 1. 55. So nothing is guaranteed when we're dealing with the virus. But Ohioans have done very well keeping the mask on, doing what we need to do. This number continues to come down, and I'm very, very hopeful that we will continue to see that that occurring. Yeah. Let's go. The hospitalizations. We had a little blip yesterday, Day before yesterday. I guess went up a little bit, but the trend line, You know, it did jump here quite a bit. Um, but we're down to 908 So the trend line, the overall trend line is still is still good. Let's go to our old traditional alert map. You'll see. Some changes were also seeing more counties move off of red and the advisory system. This week, nine counties are moving from red to orange. Those are atoms dark, greasy. Harrison knocks Morgan, Prebble, Putnam and Van Wert there, primarily moving down because there are cases per capita, have all dropped below the high instance level of 100. We have also had one county moving from red to yellow, and that is Meg's County case rated. Meg's County was well over the high instant threshold last week, but this week they dropped to below 50 which means they no longer meet the cases per capita indicator at all and are now at yellow. Um, we do have a bit of upward movement homes moved to orange. This is because their cases per capita increase from just under 50 to about 60 this week. It's a small difference, but it does mean they go back to orange for this week. Even if this increase their well below the state average will keep a close eye on their status. Just a reminder that we could hit little bumps in the road. Our journey out of this pandemic in all likelihood will. But we shouldn't be discouraged. We should keep our eye on the ball and continue to move forward. Yeah, we've had discussions with the number of members of county fairs or fair boards. Uh, do a great job. I know from our experience in Greene County and Clark County and his friend travel around the state for, and I traveled around the state to see county fairs. We've been, I think, every I know we've been to every county fair in the state at one time or the other. The fair board members just do a phenomenal job. We've had the opportunity to talk to a few of the fair board members, particularly those who have fairs in June, which is the first month of of our county fairs and based upon what we are seeing now, from the data that I just shared with all of you, it's our anticipation that we will be able to have full county fairs, full county fairs, uh, this year. So we're very, very excited about that. We are issuing today. The fair guidance people will be able to take a look at that and really just a quick summary of it is that the Fed will be able to go on. There'll be some limitation in the in. The in the grandstands that we we have talked about before, 30% social distancing will be required. The other main thing is that we're asking affairs to have signs throughout the fair in regard to mask wearing and mask wearing will be required at the fairs. That's the way it looks today. It certainly is possible that by the time we get to the second month affairs or even possibly the first month affairs in June, we may be off off the health orders We don't know, so we just hope things continue to go well. But what we wanted to do and what we were requested to do by the county fairs is to tell us if the fair would be starting today what would be the guidelines? And so the guidelines that we have put out are those guidelines they could change in the future. But we wanted to give fares an idea of how how they'll be able to start your county fair. So let me jump over some of this and let me go and just say, festivals, parades, graduations. Promise we will within the next week, be issuing guidelines for these. The good news is we are going to be able to do them this year. This year is a better year than last year. Uh, we have we have the vaccine. We're on offense. We're moving forward. We just have to continue to move forward to keep our mask on, keep defense at the same time. We're we've got offense. I've received requests in regard to spring high school sports, spring high school sports in regard to who has to be quarantined. Um, the good news is spring sports are basically outside, and that makes things better, and we're also seeing better numbers as we just talked about. So we're announcing today that students are students are not required to quarantine because they've had an incidental exposure to covid in a classroom. Those kids who we've said for the last few months. If they're in a classroom, everybody's wearing a mask. They're exposed. They do not have to quarantine from school. But the order was that they would have to quarantine from extracurricular activities from sports and other things. What we're saying today is no longer will they have to quarantine from those sports is as well from those sports, those extra curricular activities. So, Dr Vanderhof, you want to give us a little quick background on the rationale for this decision, and I think it's very good news for anybody who's got kids in sports, spring sports. And we're moving forward, Doctor. Yes, indeed. Thank you, Governor. As you noted, R K through 12 student athletes have two very important factors working in their favor as we head into the spring first, most most of the time they're outdoors or in facilities that can open doors or windows to allow enhanced ventilation. That really reduces the risk of covid transmission. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, our K through 12 students have an outstanding track record of wearing masks and following safe practices in the classroom. The benefit of these measures in our classrooms as everyone I think Will recall was clearly demonstrated by the Ohio Schools Covid evaluation, which we completed towards the end of December at the height of our largest surge. And that was affirmed by another study from Mississippi published in December on December 18th by the C. D. C. So this allows us to be confident that a student who is currently not required to quarantine for a school based exposure is at very low risk and can continue to participate in organized sports activities as long as they remain symptom free and follow all the applicable sports guidance. Now. There are also times when our student athletes might have an exposure outside the classroom that requires them to quarantine in. Considering that quarantine, we and the C. D. C recognize that a quarantine period shorter than the traditional 14 days may actually improve compliance by making it easier for people to complete. The new guidance today will also allow our K 12 student athletes who have some other exposure again, likely outside the classroom to end their quarantine after Day 10 without testing or after Day seven, following a negative test collected on Day five or later. This, of course, now provides our student athletes access to the same 10 and seven day quarantine options that we announced some time ago for most other Ohioans. And as you said, Governor, this is, of course, very good news for a student athletes. But there are steps we can take because our students are doing such a good job with masking, distancing and other safe practices. And because so many of our teachers, coaches, parents and other adults are similarly adhering to safe practices and winding up to get vaccines. And Doctor, I think that's coming out. Make sure that schools will be able to get that coming out today. Yes, it is. Governor will be issuing that along with our usual collateral guidance. Um, later today. Okay, Great. So schools can take a look at that and parents can take a look at that. And we're very happy about that. Testing remains important. You know, we talk now about vaccinations all the time as we think about that, as we try to get vaccinations out to Ohioans throughout the state. But testing, uh, laws. This virus is here. We still have to continue to test. So I want talk about some opportunities for testing. Uh, and the state has been involved in purchasing some testing. We announced that some time ago, but I want to revisit this because we're making this available to a number of different locations in the state. These are real tools that can be used to knock the virus down. They can also be used to determine who has it, who does not have it and just make rational, better, rational decisions. Um, testing remains a critical tool for identifying the virus and slowing its spread are strategy continues to rely to a great deal on that testing. Two weeks ago, I talked about an investment. The state is made in rapid at home an urgent testing, partnering with Abbott and email. Now this partnership and the availability of these at home tests changing what covid testing looks like because you can literally pick up a test, take the test home with the assistance then of a telehealth Procter and get the results very, very quickly. These are four key initiatives that are making rapid tests more accessible for Ohioans. We start with the first one Federally qualified health centers relied upon by many Ohioans are first initiative focuses on our ongoing partnership with our federally qualified health centers. Since December, we have provided federally qualified health centers with more than 150,000 rapid tests that it can be administered right on site. At these clinics. The ability to go to health center and have a professional administer your test can be extremely valuable. So if you use a federally qualified health center, you can get a test there. Second, local health departments for at home tests were working with local health departments to use them to address the local priorities of the community. We've seen local health departments who have decided to partner with schools. They partner with non profit organizations and first responders to provide these tests. So the vast majority of our local health departments now have these tests. So if you see a need for those tests, you can contact your local health department. And certainly when the Health Department sees a need in the community, they can take those rapid tests out now and you utilize them three. Our public libraries. Our third initiative has focused on partnering with our great public libraries. Ohio to make at home Tests available throughout Ohio. During the first two weeks of this initiative, we have had nearly 120 library systems tell us they want to partner, and that represents more than 250 sites. So these will be going out to our hospitals. We'll take a look at the slide between February between our libraries and our local health department partnerships at home. Testing is available in 76 of our 88 counties, including in some areas that have had very little access to testing earlier in the pandemic next to schools. Finally, I'm announcing today that we plan to make rapid testing available in our K through 12 schools as well. Throughout the pandemic, schools have had low transmission rates of the virus because of mass social distancing cleaning procedures. Now we're adding testing to this environment to increase confidence and safety in our schools. Is that school? This is a tool again that our schools can use in the coming days will be shipping more than 200,000 of the at home test to our educational service centers. We encourage our schools to take advantage of this resource and develop aggressive testing plans. We will continue to support those efforts for as long as necessary. So again, this is a tool. We don't want to give up this tool. These are opportunities for different examples of opportunities where these can be used in the community. Testing still plays just a very important role in protecting our communities. During this pandemic. Testing is now more available and more accessible than ever. Let me now turn it over. Back again to the lieutenant governor John. Thanks, Governor. Again, I'm here in Montpelier, Ohio, where I grew up at at the school where they have a pop up clinic today serving 840 doses today. Vaccine to the people of Williams County and the surrounding area. Uh, I will tell you, Governor, they wanted to emphasize, and I'll emphasize again the new website. Get the shot coronavirus dot Ohio dot gov, where people can find, uh, resources to find a provider and book an appointment. And I will say that this setting I want to thank my former, one of my former high school football coaches and biology teacher for putting this all together today. He put the setting together for us and I will tell you, governor, that when you made the announcement about the, uh, new quarantine rules for masked students as it relates to sports, we have two masked students here in this room who played baseball and track, and they were shaking their heads and giving the thumbs up because they're seniors and they wanted to make sure they got to have a full season. And if they do the right thing wearing their masks, they know now that they can avoid a quarantine for an exposure and they're super excited about that. I did want to mention one more thing that has to do with the pandemic unemployment system. P U A. Pandemic unemployment assistance again reminded everybody what this is. It's not our traditional unemployment system. This is a system that the federal government created, uh, back early in the pandemic for people who would not qualify for the traditional unemployment assistance through the traditional system. And they set up rules and states had to build the technology platform to process. This, uh, that has been that has plagued all the states both in terms of speed, of serving the people that they need to speed and the attempted fraud activities that are coming not only domestically but from Russia, China and Nigeria and other places around the world. Every state has been developing their own technology and administrative solution to this. Um and we formed in Ohio a public private partnership to attempt to deal with this, uh, coming up with technology solutions and best practices. Uh, wanted everybody to know that the governor and I sent a letter to President Biden asking him, uh, to create develop immediately national coordinated response to the ongoing attempt to defraud America both of the national American people, uh, through this pandemic Unemployment assistance program. We recognize that the system was created pre President Biden and that most of this has occurred prior to his watch. But we are asking the president to help make this a national best practices effort because if you get it right in one state, the fraudsters can just move to another state. We think we have a good plan that we're building, but we know that the country would benefit by having a coordinated effort. And so we've asked the President Biden to lead an effort, uh, to make that happen and just wanted to make sure that the media and people who have been following this story understand what we what we're looking for and how we want to participate in helping inform that national conversation on best practices from the things that we're trying to do here in Ohio. Governor turned it back to you. Thank you very much, Lieutenant Governor. We'll go to questions. Governor first question is from Justin Dennis of Mahoning matters dot com. Good afternoon, Governor Afternoon. As the state is rapidly increasing vaccine eligibility, what are some other medical conditions or co morbidity that you're looking at, including an upcoming phases? Other states have chosen to prioritize things like obesity, wondering if there's any timeline for for more common medical conditions that are also create extra risk for covid 19. You know, we're certainly looking at that. No decision has been made we think will be, since we just today opened 50 and above, and you're seeing how the slots are filling up pretty quickly. Uh, you know, we don't anticipate opening the next another slot for a number of days, but we'll see how that works out. We're in the process of really looking at this from What we've tried to do all along is to figure out how we can cut down on potential desk. 15 above is about 98% of the deaths that have occurred. So 90% of the deaths in the state of Ohio have occurred from those individuals who are 15 above, so by going primarily based upon age as quickly as we can. We have been able, I think, to save when we know save a lot of lives. And we've tried to do it with with what is still a scarce product in a way that saves the most lives I'm happy to see as we look at the age groups, the different age groups starting with 80 and above 75 to 80. If you look at each one of those, they all continue to move up slowly now, but they all continue to move up. I think we have three age groups that are now in the 60% or above, so that is encouraging that that continues to happen. I know the health departments are very focused and many of our providers are very focused on continuing to get the most vulnerable individuals. We think we have given them the guidelines to do that. But as we look to people below 50 and we look at that, that group we're gonna look and see, uh, you know who is the most vulnerable and then try to identify those groups and make them make them eligible. But age is just by far the best indicator. And we've made some groups that or below the age limit now eligible because of the higher risk. But the lower you go in age, many of these special challenges that people have are taken over and are covered because of your covering them them by age. But we're going to continue to look at this. Saving lives is going to be our continue to be our number one priority and slowing the spread. Next question is from Randy Ludlow at the Columbus Dispatch. You're ready? Good afternoon, Governor. Uh, your fellow Republicans in the legislature have thrown down another challenge to your authority to issue public health orders and to potentially veto any that might be issued. Will you veto Senate Bill 22 why? Well, Randi, thank you for the for the question. Throughout my career, I have found that I generally can get things done, make things happen, try to improve the status quo by working with people, and I still hold out some hope that we will be able to do this with with the General Assembly. We talked about what the Senate did with the bill, and I said, You know, look, it was an improvement and I was trying to create the environment so that we could have a discussion and we had discussion, but nothing really came of it after that. And so that's been my experience throughout my career. But so far we've not been able to do that with this this issue. But I'm still, you know, have some hope, certainly, that we'll be able to do this. But I will have to veto the bill. There's no governor that I can think of in Ohio who would have not vetoed this bill, and I will have to veto it. Not so much for me, certainly because we're we're coming out of this pandemic. But I'm very concerned about the future. I'm very concerned about the future governor and health departments around the state not having the tools they need to keep the people of the state shave. And the one thing we've learned about this during this pandemic is something that we thought was unthinkable has now occurred two years ago, No one, no one except some real real experts ever thought about a virus that would kill this many people. Um, we have people in the world who are terrorists. We have terrorist states who are thinking of different things that they could do to the United States. So we just don't know what the future is going to bring. And we have to be able to protect the people of the state. And it's not just the governor protecting the people, the state with local health departments, because this strikes directly at the heart of the ability of public health in the state, local officials to keep the people of the state safe, let me give some examples, and we'll start off. First of all, the bill is unconstitutional. Um, that's that's where we have to start. Uh, if the bill became law, it would grant the General Assembly the ability to overturn and modify lawful actions of the executive branch, not bypassing Bill, which is the way it is should be done. That's what the Ohio Constitution requires. The passing of the bill by passing something called a concurrent resolution. That's not a bill that's not law. Further second point about the constitutionality. The bill clearly violates the separation of powers. We'll have more about that in my veto message, uh, to the public and into the General Assembly. Let me talk about a couple specific examples, um, and let me go to what the bill would do if it became law. One of the parts of the bill says that in order for someone to be quarantined by the local health department there, that person must come into direct contact. Was someone who has been medically diagnosed with a communicable or contagious disease. So for the local health department to be able to quarantine and keep in mind, we've not done this during during this during this pandemic. But someone who must they must be able to show that someone is coming to that person who is going to be quarantined has come into direct contact with someone who has been medically diagnosed with a communicable or contagious disease. So what does that mean? Well, early on early on in this pandemic to Miami University. Students were coming back from Wuhan. Um, and this was when the outbreak was going on over there. They flew in. They came back to campus. Now they were very cooperative. They did everything that the Butler County Health Department asked them to do, and the Miami University asked them to do the quarantine. They wait at the time tests were done. Took a while for tests to come back. But test came back and it was found that they were did not have it, Thank God. But let's suppose that they did have it. And let's suppose they were not cooperative when they came back. And let's suppose they just said, Hey, we're going to go about our business They could have contaminated hundreds and hundreds of people on Miami University's campus with devastating results in Butler County and throughout the state of Ohio, because you never would have been able to prove that the people that they had come in contact with somebody who had been medically diagnosed absolutely impossible. Let me take another one and again, not not far fetched at all. Ebola, uh, there's outbreaks of Ebola now in Africa. Different, different locations, different places. I had a conversation with Dr Randolph about this two or three days ago by the ball, and although we don't see danger now, but it's there it is in in these countries. So let's say somebody comes in to the United States and we find out that they have come from the infected area of one of those countries. Do we really want that person to be mixing with society, possibly sealing the medical fate of hundreds and hundreds of people? This bill would say that that local health department could not stop that person from doing that. Couldn't stop someone coming in from a foreign country coming from an infected area. Uh, look, it makes no sense I could go on and on, and we will have further examples. But the only thing I can think is that members of the General Assembly just, you know, did not take this all the way through to the ramifications. It would mean for the safety of their fellow citizens in the future and the unknown when the unknown becomes the known. When the hypothetical becomes real, the local health departments and the governor have to have the ability to move very quickly to save lives. So this is not about me. This is about the future and saving of lives. And it would be absolutely irresponsible, absolutely irresponsible for me to do anything but veto this bill. Yeah. Mhm. Next question is from Mike Livingston at Gongora News Service. Yeah, Yeah. Hi, Governor. Um, kind of kind of staying on that topic. The house broadened the scope of this bill quite a bit earlier this week. How much more concerned are you with this becoming law in its final form than you were prior to the events of this one? Thanks. Well, yeah, Mike. Thank you. The bill got worse. Uh, you know, and I just really I don't think members of the General Assembly, you know, it was changing things were added the crippling of local health departments, ability to do things. And we'll have more and more examples. And local health departments will have examples they've sent me. You know, they've told me about some things and I didn't even talk about those today. But we'll have a lot of those in our veto message. And look, we want to work with the General Assembly. We want to include them. We want to have conversations. We're coming out of this thing. Things are going well, but I just can't let this go. I couldn't sleep at night. I would not. I just couldn't do this because it really is about the future of protecting the people of the state of Ohio. And look, it's not about me. I mean, members of the General Assembly may be irritated about, you know, in order that we issued or that order and one can One can argue the merits of these, and we can have that discussion. But to strip away essential power that might be needed in the future to protect lives and to save lives is just, uh we just I cannot accept that. Next question is from Tom Jackson at the Sandusky Register. Tom. Hi, Governor. Um, Governor, my favorite sport, baseball starts up in just a little bit more than two weeks. Um, do you expect to be able to ramp up the allowable attendance? Uh, pretty quickly. If things continue in the same direction, and by the time we get into the summer, do you think we'll be able to have full capacity crowds in the baseball stadiums. Yes and yes. Look, if we Tom, if this keeps going, we can move forward. You know, my league baseball does not start until May 4. Major League baseball's April 1. And, you know, I think things are going to look better by even April 1, but certainly by May 4th, we may be beyond, um, you know, the limitations that we've imposed now. So, um, we're I look forward to a full full ball parks this summer at some point, and I just don't know when that will be, but things are gonna get better. They're continuing to get better. And look, we can we control this future? We're vaccinating people encourage anybody who who is thinking about getting vaccinated. If they need a ride, give him a ride. Whatever they need, help them out to get vaccinated. The more people we get vaccinated, the faster we get them vaccinated. The better off we're going to be in, the sooner we're going to move to full ballpark. Next question is from Jake Zuckerman at the Ohio Capital Journal. Hey, Governor, I wanted to get back to Senate. Both 22 among other pieces. That Bill you mentioned it would actually end the current state of emergency that you declared about a year ago, 30 days after taking effect. So, somewhere around 120 days from now, would that have any practical effect right now? If that declaration were no longer presents? Uh, you know, I don't know. I mean, I hope that would not because I hope we're out of this by then. We're not going to be totally out of it. But, you know, I think we very well could be out of beyond health orders. At that point, that would certainly be my goal. No one would be happy to see health orders go away than me. Uh, so, yeah, I think we could be well, well out of that. But my responsibility is to think about future crisis and to think of what today might be unimaginable. But tomorrow might be reality. And we have seen the unimaginable in this pandemic become real. And the world is changing quickly. There are many threats out there, some natural, some by people. And we can't give up the ability to protect people. It's kind of an essential function of government to to protect people against danger. And someone coming in here with Ebola is danger. Someone coming in the United States with Ebola who we know has been exposed. But we can't prove that the person that they came in contact with in that other country had been medically diagnosed as having Ebola. There's no way we could prove that. But what rational Ohioan wouldn't say? Okay, these some people are coming in, and they come from a country and a location in that country where Ebola is running wild. What rational person wouldn't say? Let's be on the safe side. Let's have them quarantined for a while before we let them out to mix among our family members. Next question is from Alison Walker at W K. F in Dayton. Hello, Governor. Hello, Allison, Can you hear me? I can, indeed. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you. So staff at the vaccine clinic in Springfield today told me that there are some people coming in from out of state to get vaccinated. Why are vaccinations open to people who don't currently live in Ohio? Well, Alison, you know that's a good question. I've talked to our neighboring governors talk to other governors and we have Ohio ones today who are getting vaccinated in other states. I talked to one today who just happened to tell me or yesterday. I guess it was who happened to tell me that they got a shot in another state. They don't live in another state. They live in Ohio. So if if we start trying to impose that, um you know, other states would impose that against our citizens. And I just have a sneaking suspicion since this is occurring during the winter that we're probably getting more people Ohio citizens vaccinated in other states, a couple in particular. Uh, then we are vaccinating people coming in from other states to Ohio. So my guess is I can't prove it, But my guess is we're net winter in regard to that next question is from Andy Chow at Ohio Public Radio and television. Go. Hey, when we're talking about this expansion of testing the at home testing, do you believe that could make it harder for the state to reach the 50 cases per 100,000 threshold with with the expansion of testing? I know last year when we saw an increase in testing that the positivity rate was a big metric that the state was following. And the the positivity rate. We watch it. Still, we don't talk a lot about it, but we we follow it. I mean, every day, one of things I look at how many tests were doing in Ohio, and we are down just like I think virtually every state is down. Uh, but when your positivity is as low as it is now, um, I'm not worried. Worried about that? Um, you know, we're down in 3% 3.23 point three something like that. So it has dropped. You know, you remember the time It wasn't that long ago and we, you know, put up put up over 15, and we were one of the ones that was over 15. So, uh, that positivity rates staying low is a really a good sign to me. So it's not just the low cases, but I'm watching the positivity rate and it's down. So I'm not worried about you know how many tests were doing that. That is not going to really impact to a great extent when your positivity rate is that low. So no, I'm not. I'm not concerned about that at all, and it's a tool that people can use. It's a tool that people can use who have not been able to be vaccinated so school can use that to A college could use that tool. Others could use that tool who have not been able to be vaccinated yet. It's a very effective, very effective tool. Next question is from Jeff Reddick at W S Y X and Columbus. Hey, Jeff. All right, Governor, you've said unequivocally here that you believe SP 22 is unconstitutional and that you'll veto it. Uh, there appears to be plenty of energy to override that veto in both House and Senate. So if it's unconstitutional, is a legal solution or challenge for you a possibility? Is it worth that going to the courts? Well, I think we should first have a you know. Look, I think we first have a discussion about this. Um, we're going to have a little while here where we can talk, have the opportunity to have a public discussion about what's in the bill, what it would do, what the ramifications are. And I'm just convinced that you know, when reasonable people look at this bill and listen to local health departments, um, that they're going to look at that and say, Well, we didn't really mean to do that. That's not a consequence we wanted to have. I would also add, and we'll talk more about this. But this is a, uh, just a bill that encourages litigation, encourages litigation, uh, and will change how universities, for example, have to deal with frivolous lawsuits. So this is a bill that encourages frivolous lawsuits, and I know that that's not something this General Assembly is interested in doing. And again, I as we look at this further and as people have a chance to reflect on it, I think you'll see that it's going to encourage a lot of lawsuits and encourage frivolous lawsuits. Next question is from Andrew is from Matt, right at WJW in Cleveland. Hi, Governor. Many Ohioans are, of course, anxious to make plans and looking forward to an end to the health orders. Last week, here in the Cleveland area, you said you're hoping to see full ballparks, maybe by July 4th. Earlier today, you said the orders might end as soon as June had your experts giving you a timetable at this point, when do you expect we might reach that incidence rate goal to end health orders? No, Matt. One thing we've learned throughout this pandemic is we can't really predict. You can listen to the experts and they can tell you what they think is probably going to happen. But I can't stand up here and come up with any kind of dates. And there's no expert that I'm aware of in the country that can. We don't know what this variant is gonna do. We know it's multiplying. We know it's more contagious than what we've had before. What impact that has. At the same time, we're frantically and very systematically vaccinating people very quickly. Today, yesterday was over 50,000 people first doses, So all of those things can't really be. People can't calculate how all those things coming together, we're not. We've not had the vaccine before, nor have we had this variant before, so we don't know how that's gonna how that's gonna play out. So you know, it can be cautious. We can say we think we can do this because people are asking us, What can we do? Can we plan for a problem? Can we plan for graduation? Can we plan for this and that? We try to tell them the best we can based on what we know today. But setting a date, I think, would be kind of an irresponsible thing to do, and I can't do that. Next question is from Andrew Tobias at Cleveland dot com. Andrew Mm Mhm. We'll come back to Andrew. Next question is from Kevin Landers at WBNS in Columbus. Kevin. Afternoon, Governor, can you explain why transit workers are still not among the groups to be eligible for the vaccine? They were considered essential workers at one point. And then what's preventing you from creating a monthly calendar so people or groups can plan in advance when they can get the vaccine? Thank you. Yeah, Kevin. Good question. Uh, actually had a conversation with one of the mayor's today. Several mayors about transit workers made a good point. We have, as you know, really not focused on essential workers, because how does that compare to the essential worker who is in the grocery store? How does that comply with? Compare with another essential worker. So we've really not used essential workers throughout this. We've used odds of dying. If you get covid, that's been the number one indicator. Number one goal is to reduce the desk, and we felt the fastest way to reduce the deaths is to go by age. And the data clearly shows that again we've now opened up to 50 and above. 15 above constitutes 97 98% of the deaths. So you know, if you can. We started with the nursing homes when a seal that that group off as much as we could, so that's what we followed. Now we've picked some people who have certain diseases certain medical conditions, I should say and said, Look, even though they're not 50 or they're not 60 yet they have a high, high high risk. So let's let's try to let's try to cover those. The only real exceptions have been teachers who we've did frankly because we wanted to get the kids back in school, wanted to protect the teachers, but we also wanted to get the kids back in school. Another group certainly was our health workers because we need them to protect us. Uh, and everybody. I think consensus was that was the right thing to do. And the other group we've added our police officers who in our other first responders, who are out there protecting us every single day. So we've really not, you know, gone by essential workers. We have gone by. How do we save lives? But now that we get as we're looking at, where do we go below 50? All these things are certainly on the table, and we're trying to analyze them. We're open to ideas. We're trying to do the best we can to save lives and to protect people. Next question is from Noah Blondeau and Hannah News Service. Good afternoon. Can you hear me? I can't. Indeed. Great. Thanks. Um so in regard to Senate Bill 22 the conversation that you want to have with lawmakers, um, other than being an optimist, do you Do you have any? Do you have any reason to suspect that there are actually minds to be changed? They voted on something like this twice. Now, in the great numbers, they've been pretty insistent on a scale back your power. So again, Like I said, other than being an optimist in general. Why do you think you're going to change any minds? Yeah, well, this bill continued to change. As you know, it was changed the relatively last moment again. Um, so I think that there needs to be a discussion which we will have about all the ramifications of this bill. And I remain convinced that many members of the General Assembly, you know, hadn't thought about Ebola cause that's real. It exists in the circumstances of someone coming into this country who has Ebola is not far fetched. And the circumstances of that person coming into Ohio is not far fetched. So these are real dangers And to require, as this bill does, that that local health departments got to be able to say, Well, the person that he came in contact with her she came in contact with was medically diagnosed. And maybe maybe, you know, a country there was a doctor there in sight. Uh, you know, maybe Doctor wasn't right there in that in that area. And how are you going to know where that person has been? Medically, the person that they came in contact with has been medically diagnosed. It's impossible. We'll be asking the local health departments who are sworn to protect us. Uh, just, you know, put up the white flag and say, We're out of it. We can't stop this person coming in. Who's got Ebola? This is real. So I just think the only thing I can assume is that, you know, I just think they need to look at this and think about it and look at all the ramifications, and there are things that we can work out. There are ways, and we have talked to some of the members of the General Assembly and I will not get into it today. But we talked about ways where we could come up with something that I think would satisfy the members of the General Assembly's concerns and give them real authority, real power, but also protect the people of the state of Ohio. And that's really what I'm concerned about. It's not about me. It's about protecting the people of Ohio. We will try again with Andrew Tobias of Cleveland dot com. Andrew. I think Andrew's having audio issues and he'll submit his question writing in a moment. But until then we will go to Jesse bombarded the Cincinnati Enquirer. Hello, Governor. Um, my question is, when we're looking at heat maps, you looked at a lot of different factors. Different numbers when pulling those together. When we were looking at the curfew, you looked at death numbers. Now, when we're looking at lifting health orders, you're looking at new cases. So I guess why focus on one individual number And then also why is that the right number to be looking at? Yeah, I'm gonna go to Dr Vanderhof. He was very instrumental in in in working this. Obviously, I I I approved it. I thought it was the right thing. I will say one thing that, you know, we wanted something. We kept hearing from the General Assembly. We have from the public. Very understandably. You give us a marker, give us a measure. Um, you know, tell us when we can get out of this. Tell us when we get back to our totally, totally normal in the state of Ohio. And so, you know, we just looked at everything and felt that this was a really a good measure, and I think, as I showed on the chart if you look at the case is going way, way back, I think that chart was very instructive. It tracked pretty well when we were having big trouble and track pretty well when we were having not as much trouble. Dr. Banner off. Well, yes, Governor. Thank you. And I think you said it very, very well. Ohioans really understandably want to get their lives back to normal, but they have asked us over and over again for a mile marker, something that they really think could be understandable and a clear signal that our vaccinations are having enough of an impact that we really can back away from a lot of the mandatory restrictions that we've had in place. And as we looked at the numbers, the best leading indicator, the one that really seemed to point toward us arriving at that place was this metric of cases per 100,000. It's a measure that we and the C. D. C have been tracking from nearly the very beginning of the pandemic. And as we looked at how that measure has performed over time, it appeared to be a very reliable indicator of when the virus was either expanding spreading or when it was contracting, and we looked at that in the context of multiple other measures. There are other measures that I think are important ones, but they tend to be lagging indicators. This really was that mile marker that people were requesting, that we felt we could have the most confidence in enter to buy. A secluded dot com has submitted the following question. We have readers who are wondering when they may be eligible for the vaccine. The next time you expand eligibility, will you reduce the age incrementally again? Or might you just open it up to everyone? Well, I don't think we're ready to open up to everyone. I think when you do that, you're basically saying, Were either that close to the end on the age or you're saying we can't really practically define other groups that are more likely to die than others. So I don't think that, you know, we will go straight to opening it up, but we are moving a lot faster than we were. Of course, that's because more vaccine is coming into the state of Ohio. We anticipate to be sort of the same amount for the next few weeks. But then, um you know, in April, at some point we would expect to see those numbers go back up again even further. So this is moving and you know, we're going to try to continue to get the vaccine out and make it as many sites as we can, many opportunities as we can, or health departments, or we're working very hard. And I know some of our other providers are to dig down and to make sure that that person is living at home and can't get out. Uh, I was talking to Charlie Paterson this morning, for example, in Clark County, and we were talking about how you know, how do we reach the one person who was at home and you know they're doing it. It's not easy. It's not fast, but you know, we have a moral obligation to get this vaccine in the arms of every single citizen in Ohio who want it every single one. And so we will continue to focus on that every day, and it's taking a tire community, entire state to do it. You know, whether I'm whatever county I'm in. Um, it's a lot of different people. A lot of them by volunteering. Um, you know, we saw today the doctor that delivered several of our babies, and, uh, you know, he was He was in Clark County. He's retired, but he's still doing volunteer medical work. And he was there putting shots in people's arms. It's no a lot of people like Dr Billings who just are making a difference. Uh, you know, every single day. Next question is from John London at WLWT in Cincinnati. Hi, Governor. We hope to see it down here in Cincinnati for a visit sometime soon. Coming soon. Coming soon, John. Thank you. Broad data Governor in down here in Hamilton County shows racial disparity in delivering vaccinations into certain neighborhoods and former state rep Alicia Reece, who you know, once the state to help bring about a mobile vaccine bus that would go into black neighborhoods block by block. She'd like to have it operating in April. Do you find that to be feasible? And how might the state help? I've talked to Alicia about this show, and I've known each other for a long, long time. She served. She and my son Pat served on city council together, and she's a friend and she's absolutely right. It needs to be done. I was talking to our team yesterday about how fast we can get mobile sites up, but also mobile vans that literally can go into the neighborhood after neighborhood. So I think it's a phenomenal idea. We're fort. We're gonna work with her, and with people throughout the state to get these out, we're gonna do it. Next question is from Jim Province at the Toledo Blade. Hi again, Governor. Um, earlier this week, you had a phone conversation with the university presidents about hazing after the death of Scott Faults at Bowling Green. Could you tell us how that call went? We know that the president have since come out in favour of pending legislation. And was that done at your urging? I don't think it was my urging that did it. I think they were going to do that anyway. You know, I talked to them about accessing more testing, uh, talked a little bit about that, You know, they're well down the path. Many of them, most of them in regard to testing. But I want to say, Look, we've got some rapid testing. Most of them have already made the contracts and done things. But I just said, Look, if this will help in any way we want to make sure that testing you know it's there and you can get it and you can access it. You know, the main purpose of talking and the reason I requested some time with them is to talk about hazing. You know, changing the culture in any place about anything is tough. You know, the old saying is, culture trumps all. That's the toughest thing to change. But we not only have to pass legislation, we have to pass, we have to be able to change culture. And there's still obviously has some remnants of an old culture that says hazing is some passage that people have to go through and whether it's in a band or whether it's a fraternity. Whatever. Some sporting group, um, you know, this is an antiquated way of thinking, and we have to rid ourselves and rid our culture of this. You know, I as a parent, the grandparents is just disgusting and just so very, very sad to think that you could have a young person with so much potential, so much future. Now they're gone and they're going for no logical reason. And they're gone because of some antiquated way of thinking that this is some passage of rite of passage that someone has to go through before they can be part of a group. We gotta stop it and we have to. We have to go after it and I would go even further. And one of the things I did say to the president's, uh and and and by the way, they all have programs. They all are focused on it. They get it. They didn't need me to tell them. They are very, very, very focused on it. But seems to me that anybody who is part of an organization who knows that this hazing is going on MM should be disciplined by the university. I'm not talking about criminally. That's a different issue. But anybody who even knew that hazing was taking place, they should be gone. Well, thank everybody again. 150th press conference. So been an interesting, interesting year, and we'll be back next week. We're not on Monday. We'll be back on Thursday unless something breaks before then. Mhm

Coronavirus latest: 988,298 cases in Ohio; 415,770 in Kentucky; 672,554 in Indiana

Updated: 12:04 PM EDT Mar 14, 2021

The COVID-19 outbreak is continuing to change everyday life for millions of Americans. Leaders across the county, including the Tri-State area, are providing daily updates on confirmed cases, deaths and measures taking to curb the spread of the virus. Here, you can get the latest information on the coronavirus in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana as well as resources to be prepared and keep your family safe.LATEST CASE NUMBERS: Ohio, 988,298 cases, 17,871 deaths | Kentucky 415,770 cases, 4,966 deaths | Indiana, 672,554 cases, 12,446 deathsEducational resources: CLICK HERE to access online learning resourcesCORONAVIRUS IN OHIOThe state of Ohio is on track to meet President Joe Biden's target of having all adults eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine by May 1, Gov. Mike DeWine said Friday.Biden pledged Thursday in his first primetime address to make all adults eligible for vaccines by May 1 and raised the possibility of beginning to "mark our independence from this virus” by the Fourth of July.Speaking at a vaccination site in Cincinnati's Walnut Hills neighborhood, DeWine said the state is continuing to vaccinate more and more people, and the president's target date is doable.“The best I can tell, we are on track to do that," DeWine said of Biden's target date. "We’re going to move forward and make it available as quickly as we can.”Just this week, Ohio lowered the minimum vaccination age to 50, expanding eligibility for 1.2 million people. The governor also expanded access to include people with Type 2 diabetes and end-stage renal disease.Some 2 million Ohioans, or some 17% of the population, have received at least one shot of the vaccine as of this week, according to the state Health Department.“The fact that we are vaccinating 40, 50 or 60,000 people a day in Ohio – they’re getting that first dose, and an equal number are getting that second dose – each day we are getting closer and closer to that herd immunity,” the governor said Friday.However, the governor acknowledged the vaccination system is far from perfect, adding that there is still more demand for the vaccine that the amount available.Many are having difficulties finding available vaccine.“Now I checked this morning and we opened it up to people 50 years of age and older yesterday, and what we’re seeing is a very fast filling of those (vaccination appointment) slots. Those are going to be very full for the next week or so, then I expect they’ll start loosening up some.”The governor again said the state is on both offense and defense in the war against the virus: going on the attack with vaccinations, and continuing a defensive battle through masks and social distancing.His administration is focused on delivering the vaccine as quickly as possible, without wasting valuable doses.“We want to get people vaccinated as quickly as we can. This is a rush and we’re pushing just as fast as we can. When we get vaccine in, we have an obligation to get it out as quickly as we can.”Hope is on the horizon, the governor said, as he continues to drop more and more health orders across the state. DeWine said last week that he will lift the state’s mask mandate and other public health orders once the state hits the mark of 50 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people for two weeks.“We’ve seen so many changes with this virus in the past year. We certainly could be out of this in seven or eight weeks," he said.But there's still one big question mark.“We don’t know what impact this variant will have—it’s that one dark cloud that’s out there.”CORONAVIRUS IN KENTUCKYKentucky is in the midst of Phase 1C of its vaccine distribution plan and now eligibility is once again expanding.Beginning Monday, Phase 1C eligibility will include Kentuckians 16 and older with all approved underlying health conditions either outlined by the state or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.State officials said Thursday that these underlying health conditions or illnesses put these individuals at higher risk for severe COVID-19 complications.One difference in Kentucky is that smokers will not be eligible.Phase 1C — the largest group of Kentuckians to date — began this month but was limited to people 60 and older. The state's vaccination sites were still finishing up residents 70 and older ahead of Phase 1C beginning and wanted to stick with prioritizing by age.But now that eligibility is expanded, more Kentuckians will be able to get their shots. Officials said that sites should still continue to prioritize people 60 and older because they face higher COVID-19 mortality risk.Click here for a list of health conditions that make 16 and older eligible in Kentucky.Phase 1C also includes all essential workers, which Kentucky hasn't officially started vaccinating. It remains unclear if the state plans to prioritize different essential workers or if eligibility for them will open up all at once.More of the general public will be able to sign up for vaccines once Phase 1C finishes.CORONAVIRUS IN INDIANAThe Indiana Department of Health announced Sunday that 701 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing at state and private laboratories. That brings to 672,554 the number of Indiana residents now known to have had the novel coronavirus following corrections to the previous day’s dashboard.A total of 12,446 Hoosiers are confirmed to have died from COVID-19, an increase of 10 from the previous day. Another 410 probable deaths have been reported based on clinical diagnoses in patients for whom no positive test is on record. To date, 3,182,366 unique individuals have been tested in Indiana, up from 3,177,730 on Saturday. A total of 8,452,256 tests, including repeat tests for unique individuals, have been reported to the state Department of Health since Feb. 26, 2020.To find testing sites around the state, visit www.coronavirus.in.gov and click on the COVID-19 testing information link.Hoosiers age 50 and older, along with healthcare workers, long-term care residents and first responders who are regularly called to the scene of an emergency to render medical assistance, are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. To schedule, visit https://ourshot.in.gov or call 211 if you do not have access to a computer or require assistance.Additional locations and appointments are being added as more vaccine becomes available.As of Sunday, 1,270,966 first doses of vaccine have been administered in Indiana, and 830,862 individuals are fully vaccinated. The fully vaccinated number includes individuals who have received a second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines and those who received the single Johnson & Johnson vaccine.Symptoms:According to the CDC, the following symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure: Fever, cough and shortness of breath.Emergency warning signs include:Difficulty breathing or shortness of breathPersistent pain or pressure in the chestNew confusion or inability to arouseBluish lips or face*This list is not all inclusive. Please consult your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning.This chart from Prospect Pediatrics compares COVID-19 symptoms to the cold and flu:Resources: - Ohio coronavirus hotline: 833-427-5634- Kentucky coronavirus hotline: (800) 722-5725- Indiana general questions can be directed to the ISDH Epidemiology Resource Center at 317-233-7125 (317-233-1325 after hours) or e-mail [email protected] for Disease Control and Prevention websiteWhat to do if you think you have it:Officials have urged people to be conscious not to overwhelm the health care system. This graphic will help you decide when it is time to see a physician. Helpful tips and guides: → Here's what you should do if you already have the coronavirus → Dealing with stress, anxiety during coronavirus outbreak→ These viral social media coronavirus posts are FALSE→ How long should you wash your hands to avoid the coronavirus?→ Guidance for self isolation and home quarantine→ How to clean your car for coronavirus→ A guide to keeping your child safe and reassured as coronavirus spreads→ This map tracks the coronavirus in real time→ How to work from home without losing your sanity

CINCINNATI —

The COVID-19 outbreak is continuing to change everyday life for millions of Americans. Leaders across the county, including the Tri-State area, are providing daily updates on confirmed cases, deaths and measures taking to curb the spread of the virus.

Here, you can get the latest information on the coronavirus in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana as well as resources to be prepared and keep your family safe.

LATEST CASE NUMBERS: Ohio, 988,298 cases, 17,871 deaths | Kentucky 415,770 cases, 4,966 deaths | Indiana, 672,554 cases, 12,446 deaths

Educational resources: CLICK HERE to access online learning resources

CORONAVIRUS IN OHIO

The state of Ohio is on track to meet President Joe Biden's target of having all adults eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine by May 1, Gov. Mike DeWine said Friday.

Biden pledged Thursday in his first primetime address to make all adults eligible for vaccines by May 1 and raised the possibility of beginning to "mark our independence from this virus” by the Fourth of July.

Speaking at a vaccination site in Cincinnati's Walnut Hills neighborhood, DeWine said the state is continuing to vaccinate more and more people, and the president's target date is doable.

“The best I can tell, we are on track to do that," DeWine said of Biden's target date. "We’re going to move forward and make it available as quickly as we can.”

Just this week, Ohio lowered the minimum vaccination age to 50, expanding eligibility for 1.2 million people. The governor also expanded access to include people with Type 2 diabetes and end-stage renal disease.

Some 2 million Ohioans, or some 17% of the population, have received at least one shot of the vaccine as of this week, according to the state Health Department.

“The fact that we are vaccinating 40, 50 or 60,000 people a day in Ohio – they’re getting that first dose, and an equal number are getting that second dose – each day we are getting closer and closer to that herd immunity,” the governor said Friday.

However, the governor acknowledged the vaccination system is far from perfect, adding that there is still more demand for the vaccine that the amount available.

Many are having difficulties finding available vaccine.

“Now I checked this morning and we opened it up to people 50 years of age and older yesterday, and what we’re seeing is a very fast filling of those (vaccination appointment) slots. Those are going to be very full for the next week or so, then I expect they’ll start loosening up some.”

The governor again said the state is on both offense and defense in the war against the virus: going on the attack with vaccinations, and continuing a defensive battle through masks and social distancing.

His administration is focused on delivering the vaccine as quickly as possible, without wasting valuable doses.

“We want to get people vaccinated as quickly as we can. This is a rush and we’re pushing just as fast as we can. When we get vaccine in, we have an obligation to get it out as quickly as we can.”

Hope is on the horizon, the governor said, as he continues to drop more and more health orders across the state. DeWine said last week that he will lift the state’s mask mandate and other public health orders once the state hits the mark of 50 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people for two weeks.

“We’ve seen so many changes with this virus in the past year. We certainly could be out of this in seven or eight weeks," he said.

But there's still one big question mark.

“We don’t know what impact this variant will have—it’s that one dark cloud that’s out there.”

CORONAVIRUS IN KENTUCKY

Kentucky is in the midst of Phase 1C of its vaccine distribution plan and now eligibility is once again expanding.

Beginning Monday, Phase 1C eligibility will include Kentuckians 16 and older with all approved underlying health conditions either outlined by the state or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

State officials said Thursday that these underlying health conditions or illnesses put these individuals at higher risk for severe COVID-19 complications.

One difference in Kentucky is that smokers will not be eligible.

Phase 1C — the largest group of Kentuckians to date — began this month but was limited to people 60 and older. The state's vaccination sites were still finishing up residents 70 and older ahead of Phase 1C beginning and wanted to stick with prioritizing by age.

But now that eligibility is expanded, more Kentuckians will be able to get their shots. Officials said that sites should still continue to prioritize people 60 and older because they face higher COVID-19 mortality risk.

Click here for a list of health conditions that make 16 and older eligible in Kentucky.

Phase 1C also includes all essential workers, which Kentucky hasn't officially started vaccinating. It remains unclear if the state plans to prioritize different essential workers or if eligibility for them will open up all at once.

More of the general public will be able to sign up for vaccines once Phase 1C finishes.

CORONAVIRUS IN INDIANA

The Indiana Department of Health announced Sunday that 701 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing at state and private laboratories. That brings to 672,554 the number of Indiana residents now known to have had the novel coronavirus following corrections to the previous day’s dashboard.

A total of 12,446 Hoosiers are confirmed to have died from COVID-19, an increase of 10 from the previous day. Another 410 probable deaths have been reported based on clinical diagnoses in patients for whom no positive test is on record.

To date, 3,182,366 unique individuals have been tested in Indiana, up from 3,177,730 on Saturday. A total of 8,452,256 tests, including repeat tests for unique individuals, have been reported to the state Department of Health since Feb. 26, 2020.

To find testing sites around the state, visit www.coronavirus.in.gov and click on the COVID-19 testing information link.

Hoosiers age 50 and older, along with healthcare workers, long-term care residents and first responders who are regularly called to the scene of an emergency to render medical assistance, are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. To schedule, visit https://ourshot.in.gov or call 211 if you do not have access to a computer or require assistance.

Additional locations and appointments are being added as more vaccine becomes available.

As of Sunday, 1,270,966 first doses of vaccine have been administered in Indiana, and 830,862 individuals are fully vaccinated. The fully vaccinated number includes individuals who have received a second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines and those who received the single Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Symptoms:

According to the CDC, the following symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure: Fever, cough and shortness of breath.

Emergency warning signs include:

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Persistent pain or pressure in the chest
• New confusion or inability to arouse
• Bluish lips or face

*This list is not all inclusive. Please consult your medical provider for any other symptoms that are severe or concerning.

This chart from Prospect Pediatrics compares COVID-19 symptoms to the cold and flu:

Resources:

- Ohio coronavirus hotline: 833-427-5634

- Kentucky coronavirus hotline: (800) 722-5725

- Indiana general questions can be directed to the ISDH Epidemiology Resource Center at 317-233-7125 (317-233-1325 after hours) or e-mail [email protected].

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website

What to do if you think you have it:

Officials have urged people to be conscious not to overwhelm the health care system. This graphic will help you decide when it is time to see a physician.

Helpful tips and guides:

→ Here's what you should do if you already have the coronavirus

→ Dealing with stress, anxiety during coronavirus outbreak

→ These viral social media coronavirus posts are FALSE

→ How long should you wash your hands to avoid the coronavirus?

→ Guidance for self isolation and home quarantine

→ How to clean your car for coronavirus

→ A guide to keeping your child safe and reassured as coronavirus spreads

→ This map tracks the coronavirus in real time

→ How to work from home without losing your sanity