922,143 cases in Ohio; 378,793 in Kentucky; 640,744 in Indiana

mhm. Afternoon, everyone. We continue the today to vaccinate those 75 years of age and older throughout Ohio. Next week we'll go to 70 week. After that, we'll go to 65 we have with us today. We're gonna go first to Kroger's in Cincinnati. Where pharmacists Rob Hayes Eyes administering vaccines. Dr. Hayes, how are things going today? Hello. Things are going great. And how did people make an appointment if they want to get vaccinated? A Kroger pharmacy. How did they go about doing that? Here to Kroger dot com. Backslash, Ohio. Two of the vaccine. Very, very good. Mr. Han, how are you doing? I'm doing just fine. I'm happy to be here. Well, we're happy you're going to get a shot today. Uh, how you feel about this? You excited, or I feel very good about it. Um, I think this is a great opportunity of I thought about the opportunity to get vaccination. And I started my career teaching civics in high school. That elder high school and one of the books was called The Common Good and getting vaccinated. It's not only good for me, but it's it's good for the common good as well. Well, that's that's great. That is great. How many years do you teach? I taught for two, and then I went to work for the Kroger company for 38 years. Retired in 2000 and seven. Very good. Well, we're gonna watch you get a shot. You all right? All right. Okay. Mr. Han, you're doing okay there. Feel great. Didn't feel the thing. Painless. You both have a good day. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Welcome. Thank you, Mr Governor. Good day. Thank you. We're gonna go across the state of the Mahoning Valley. Giant Eagle pharmacist Rebecca Clark is administering vaccines to Ohioans today and in the Austin town Giant Eagle. Dr. Clark, how are you doing today? I'm doing well. How are you? They going? Okay, It sounds great. Very good. Mr. Johnson, how are you doing? Very good. You're readyto get the shot, Mr Johnson. Oh, yeah. I've been ready for a week. You've probably been ready more than that, haven't you? I've been looking forward to today. Imagine I sure have been. That's great. Well, we're gonna watch you get the shot, then. Yeah. Mr. Johnson, you're doing okay. Oh, Yeah, very good. Well, that that is that is great. We wanna thank both of you and hope you all have a great day. Appreciate it very much. Thank you very much. Thank you again. This week, Ohio and 75 years in age and order are eligible to be vaccinated. We're also vaccinating this week people with intellectual developmental disabilities and who have also certain medical conditions. Uh, these individuals are being contacted directly in regard to getting the shots. Um, Monday, February 1st, we'll goto Ohio on 70 in order in a week from there will be at 65 then we will hold it at 65. Let me talk now about schools and maybe kind of give you an update on where we are. This is the most recent slide. Remember? We looked at this, I think two, maybe three weeks ago now and then we had about a third of our kids in school full time. About a third of them totally remote. Another third that were hybrid remote part of the week and in person, part of the week. You'll see that I think, in anticipation of the vaccinations you're starting to see these numbers change. And so, uh, this is the percentage of students, um, so for in person 373 176 district's. And that constitutes almost 46% of the population of our students go down full remote down here. That that is now down to 17.6%. So it was about 33% and then partial in person, 36%. So we're seeing a movement away from the fully remote to either either partial the hybrid or two more in person, and that's a good That's a good, good sign. Let me talk about how the vaccination is going to take place, and we've had a couple schools that have already started, but we're really going to get started on this next week. About 500 different schools public in private parochial schools, charter schools, public charter schools, uh, will be getting vaccinated. Their faculty, uh, and personnel beginning vaccinated next week. Our goals, we have said, is to try to get every child back in school by March 1. And if you look at our public schools, uh, every public school is now signed except one S o. You know, we're happy with that. They've all agreed to go back in school March 1. Some of them have been in in person. Some of them have been, uh, in and out based upon this, the situation in the community. But they've all signed that the goal is to go back March 1. All except one district to help schools return safely to in person education. We prioritize vaccinating the K through 12 school employees. The goal for doing this? The reason that we're doing this is to get kids back in school. Uh, this vaccination is available to teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians, Uh, you know, anyone who's in that in that, really, in that school building now the schools will who will have access actions to vaccine Week one have already been notified, and we have put that list out tomorrow. We will notify all other schools which week of the four weeks which week they will actually get the vaccination. Most of them will be able to complete that in a week. Some of our larger counties the county will not be able to totally get done in a week, and it will take, and it will take two weeks. Um, the plan that we will be announcing tomorrow has been created with several important factors in mind. I know people have been texting means that how you know, how come these other schools started? How come we haven't started? And look, I I understand. But what I just say is that the schools and school personnel are really being put at the front of the line for the sole purpose of getting kids back in school, keeping kids in school. For all the reasons that we have we have talked about and how very, very important. Uh, this is so the school personnel are really will be in front of 11 or so million, uh, of their fellow Ohio ones. So I know everyone wants to start next Monday next week. We simply do not have the supplies to do that. We don't have enough vaccine to do that. We have to spread this out over that period of time. We've done all we can to make this simple for K through 12 staff to get vaccinated. They will be contacted by their local school district. This plan that we have will allow most of the k through 12 staff in a county to be vaccinated within seven days. The goal is to make the logistics of this as easy as possible locally to maximize the capacity of local vaccination partners, those people who are doing the vaccinations. We have a limited supply of the vaccine. We pulled vaccine from our statewide allocation specifically for vaccinating our K through 12 staff. There just isn't enough to do every school in the first week. It's simply impossible. And we want to be able to continue to vaccinate throughout the month of February. Those who are older Ohioans. And so we're on on several different tracks here. Those are the two biggest tracks were trying to do these two things to two things at once. Roughly, uh, we hope to have about 100,000, uh, vaccines available for people who are are the older population. Every week at the same time will be having about 55,000 that will go to our schools. Those air those generally rough, rough numbers. Um, this is it's a logistical issues you can imagine. We create the plan in this way to ensure that counties convey vaccinate the maximum number of people. As I said in the shortest amount of time, Um, local educational service centers are working with local health departments and retail pharmacies to facilitate vaccinations that air convenient for school staff. So we're trying to get this easy for school staff to be able to do this. For example, there will be an on site vaccination clinic is just one example. You'll be an on site vaccination clinic and Hilliard Davidson High School. So in some cases there go right to the school. In others, there'll be a place where a number of different schools will be going to. But the idea is to separate, uh, are order Ohioans who are getting it on this one track to separate those from the people in school so they will not be directly competing against each other. Uh, frankly for space, and they will be going to different places. So again, this is how we're going to unfold. This, um, I want to go now to Director Laurie Chris. Um, we know that for some of our students, not being in school personally has been tough in a number of ways, not just academically, but sometimes emotionally socially. Um, mental health point of view. So I asked the director how department Mental Health and Addiction Services director Lloyd Chris to to talk to us a little bit about what kind of resource is air out there. Maybe for those families, uh, they're struggling. Director. Thank you very much for joining us. Absolutely, Governor, thank you so much for inviting me to talk about youth mental health, which is a top priority for your administration. And we've been working hard, as you know, to promote mental health throughout this pandemic. We're building out ways for kids and families to get support through programs like Be Present and the Ohio Caroline. We're working in communities with youth groups and coalitions, faith congregation schools and providers to promote mental health, prevent substance use, prevent suicide and provide in person and telehealth counseling to families when they need it. We're monitoring data to inform our efforts and listening toe local experiences. And in communities across the state, youth are presenting with more acute mental health symptoms during the pandemic than normally experienced. School is community for kids. It benefits them beyond their academic content. It's the social and emotional connections the kids feel with friends, classmates, extracurriculars, teachers and more. Mrs. Diorio taught me in the seventh grade, and decades later I still value the relationship that she forged with me beyond the formal lessons in her classroom. But it wasn't just her. It was our school secretary, Mrs Mall and our nurse, Mrs Anderson, and I saw that in my own kids experience and how they connected with the whole staff, from preschool to high school, Miss Barbed, the cook and Mr Moon who managed the facilities. All of these adults build up our Children's mental health and notice and support them when things don't seem to be going well, they give a smile, a quiet place to sit, a silly joke, a snack. They help extend healthy connections outside of the home, and they often fill in for safety and predictability. At times when there's went, home is struggling. Okay, When kids aren't in school, there are many reasons to be concerned about their mental health. The change of routine and constant uncertainty of the pandemic produces anxiety. Disconnection from learning. Emotional and social supports can lead to depression, miss significant events like graduations, prom's arts performances, science, fair sports and more can result in grief. Families and friends should reach out for help. If a young person is talking about feeling hopeless, worrying about being a burden, feeling like there's no reason to live using drugs, alcohol or engaging in other risky behaviors, struggling with school or disconnecting from family and friends, you can call the Ohio care line at 1 807 to 09616 to talk with the train counselor 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They can help with the crisis, provide guidance or connect you to help in the community. Governor again, Thanks for giving me the time to talk today about the importance of mental health for Ohio's youth. Actually, you wanna thank you very much. You want to give that Ohio Caroline again for us, please? Absolutely. It's 1 800 7 to 09616 Ex director. Appreciate it very much, Eric. Let's go to the data slide first. As you can see numbers. Tadeusz Faras cases air down in the 5000 range still a very high number, but certainly a lot better than what we've been seeing. Eso. We've had a downturn in the last week or so. Uh, so again, that is below 21 day average our deaths, sadly, 75 which is about where we've been, uh, same way with hospitalization. It's about the 21 day average in the same way with her. I see you admissions, Eric. Let's look at the next one. This is our alert map. You'll see. This is our alert map. You just see one change, and that is Hamilton County is no longer purple. Looks similar to last week's. But that is the That is the rial change that we see here. Eric, let's look at the hospitalization numbers. If we could we we continue to see a downward trend. This is the number of people who have covert who are in our hospital. So it Zaveri lagging indicator comes up very late, but it is obviously a hard number. No one goes into a hospital with cove it because they want to. So these air these air good numbers. And if you recall, if you recall, we set up a guideline that I announced on Tuesday, and so that is way put it below 3500 for seven days. What we said that we would do is to go to an 11 o'clock curfew. Eso Beginning tonight, the curfew will be 11 o'clock. Beginning tonight, the curfew will be 11 oclock. We will look at this again in two weeks and we'll see where we are. If this trend continues, we may be able to go to midnight on if it really continues to get, uh, fewer and fewer people and we get down to seven days at 2500 below 2500, then we would be able to go with no curfew. So again, to recap tonight we start the 11 o'clock curfew because of the progress that we've made with the number of people in the hospitals, those numbers going down, we have 77 days, uh, below 35 3500. And, uh, we'll take a look at this two weeks from today and we'll see exactly where we are. And we hope, if it continues, will be either to go to a midnight curfew or to eliminate the curfew completely. Lieutenant Governor. Thanks, Governor. Uh, it's I know that I do a weekly discussion with the restaurant Association and they are excited about the curfew, Um, changes in the in the strategy going forward so that I know they expressed gratitude about that. And since we only have an hour today, I'm gonna just stick on the topic of of restaurants and in the hospitality industry. Um, in addition to those conversations I've had with the restaurant association, they and all the other small businesses value the $8 billion dividend rebates that we've been able to get from the BWC. They were also, uh, celebrating $125 million for small businesses in the $38 million for liquor control and liquor liquor payments, $25 payments for situations where, um, business is a restaurant, a bar bowling alley has a liquor permit. And one of the things Restaurant Association has been emphasizing is they're dying safe effort. They're really making a new effort to try toe, make their customers feel safe and provide a variety of options to serve their customers, whether that's safely inside with carry out or delivery. And one of the things that they mentioned that I wanna highlight today is how we all can look out for their employees. The people who are struggling to make ends meet during these difficult times and and the restaurant association. Many of the pizza shops around the state have announced an initiative called Um uh, it is having to do with 100 120 pizza shops around Ohio. Participate in what's called pizza with a purpose. Pizza with a purpose. They want to donate a dollar for every pepperoni pizza that's been sold this week to the Ohio Restaurant Employees Relief Fund, and I I highlight this one. It's important, but there are a number of businesses. They're doing these kinds of things for their employees to look out for them, uh, to help them, uh, during difficult times because they want to keep them. They want to keep them in the industry so that when things pick up. So if you want to help out, uh, in your community and you want to know the restaurants that are participating in this, go to Ohio restaurants relief dot or GTA. There are a number of things going on in your community where restaurants are donating a portion of the proceeds to help with restaurant employees. Relief. So I wanna highlight those things. Uh, it is, uh, it is something that I know that the restaurants are excited to do. They're excited with the expanded hours with a curfew. And I know they will want me to remind that we all have toe. They want to get that number below 2500. And they know that we now have a goal that if everybody is safe, if we wear masks and get our vaccines and do the things that we need to do to keep to keep reducing the number of hospitalizations, that that day could come sooner. And so all of us need to pitch in. We're We've been saying this from the very beginning that we're all in it together. And this is just another way you can help. So thanks, Governor. Lieutenant Governor, thank you very much. And we'll go to questions. Governor, the first question today is from Jim Province that the Toledo Blade. Jim. Hi, Governor. Thanks again for doing this. Um, next week, the state begins vaccinating those 70 and older, and that group includes you and the first lady. Do you plan to go through the same appointment process that we're asking all other Ohioans to go through. And do you still plan to be vaccinated Live during one of your briefings? Well, I hope to Fran, I hope to our our provider is doctor Sheriff who is with the Kettering Health Network. And that's where we'll be getting vaccinated. That's how we'll be doing it. Next question is from Adrian Robbins of WCMH in Columbus. Governor, thank you for doing this. Um, I understand that several groups have been lobbying your office to be part of the vaccine plan. One of them recently has been funeral workers who look at the surrounding states where they were included with health care workers. Why wasn't these death care workers included? Is it an oversight by the state and in the same vein, I know we're gonna hold it 65 years and older. When will we get a new idea of the additional groups? After that, that could be coming up in this vaccine pool. Well, people who do in bombing, I think make a very, very strong case, and we're actually reviewing that right now. We don't have anything to announce, you know, The challenges you know is we really have not gone by a definition of essential workers. Um, you know, in regard to schools, we've made that decision to get kids in school. We want our kids back in school. Eso We're vaccinating our teachers and other school personnel, and we're happy to be able to protect them. Uh, but the ultimate goal was to get kids kids back in school, we have based what decisions we have made with a very limited amount of the vaccine that we have on how we can save the most. Live as quick as we can, how we can. You know, we started with our nursing homes, and we've made real progress in regard to our nursing homes over 900 of them. Now, we've gone through once now into a second phase going through there, we've got specialized individuals who medically are particularly vulnerable, and that is that has started to occur, or it has been occurring as well. So, you know, we've really not looked at this Azaz these air, the essential workers to keep the economy going or these the essential workers Certainly keeping the funerals tragically. Keeping that moving forward obviously is very important. So we're looking at this and now we're reviewing it and see what the experts say, and we'll get back to you on that as far as our funeral directors, but way hear them. Um, taking a look at next question is from Alex Ebert at Bloomberg. Good afternoon, Governor. What is the state doing to target vaccinations for individual elderly folks that are living on their own at home? I know you had mentioned that the state is creating teams that are going to go to living centers to help get folks in these age brackets vaccinated. What is the state doing anything to target folks that might not be congregated and might be a little bit more isolated? Thank you. Sure. Sure way are. We're working through the area agency on aging groups Number one. We're also working through the local health departments had a conversation today one of our cities in regard to the local health departments that they know. You know where a lot of these people are. So it is trying to target these individuals at the same time that we get vaccine in as many arms as we can. So it's not perfect. As I said, we announced it, uh, Tuesday, one of things that were going to be doing. And these are people who you know sometimes there in high rises, sometimes they're not so high rise. But there's a people who have their own apartments on who basically live live by themselves. But your question, it takes it even one step further. You know, someone who is more remote living living by themselves. And so we're continued to work on that and continue to refine that, frankly, working with their local health departments on that next question is from Patrick O'Donnell at the 74 million or gig. Hi. So I've got what kind of one question with a couple parts to it. Um, how strictly are you going to hold schools to the March 1 reopening date? Um, can they delay because of community infection rates or other local safety factors? And we've got some districts were wanting to wait until staff received both vaccine doses before reopening, which we know really can't happen for most by March 1. Is there any flexibility here? Well, this is a matter of good faith. Quite candidly. Um, you know, each school signed a document every school, but one signed a document and said Well, you know, we'll be back on March 1. Now for some of them, that's not a heavy lift, because they've already done it already in other ones. Air going back there somewhere. Hybrid eso, You know, we've given some leeway in regard to you. Could be five days a week or you could be hybrid. We'd like for them to be five days a week, but we wanted to create some leeway for them to be able to do that. Ah, lot of schools. The personnel will have been vaccinated the second time. Uh, number of them will not, and we'll be finishing that up in the first early weeks of March. So our goal is to have everybody back March 1. And again, I think that, you know, we talked about this before Dr Brennan off may have something to add to this, but we've learned so much mawr as we've been through this school year. And, you know, we know a lot more than we knew to begin with. And we even know a lot more than we knew two months ago or three months ago. And we first started seeing it where we're principles and in school superintendents were telling me, Look, we're not getting spread in class. We're just not getting spread. We have Mary over here. She had co vid and nobody. Nobody got it in that classroom. You know, they quarantined, but nobody ended up getting it. So that way we told you we ran a study. We actually studied it, and study clearly shows it's not happening. So I think that piece of information, plus national studies that have been done, show that a teacher couldn't feel pretty confident if you go into that classroom and everyone's wearing a mask and schools are doing this and the teachers and everybody in the school buildings were in a mask, that the spread is is really low in that in that building. And you add to that that everyone will have had the first shot, and I'll leave it to Dr Vanderhof just to take it here for a moment and talk about the you know, the value of that first shot because there is there is real value, Doctor. Yes, thank you very much, Governor. I think you said it very well. First, in terms of the safety of the environment, schools now have become our second clear example of the impact, the power of masking and distancing. We saw that first, of course, with health care where, uh way were able to create a very safe environment using, masking and distancing in terms of vaccination, it's becoming increasingly clear that we develop very robust immunity, a za result of our first shot. It's not complete. We do need that second shot, that booster shot to assure that we have been that long lasting immunity that is going to be so important, uh, for our fight against Cove in. So I don't want anyone to think that for these vaccines, a single shot is enough. It's not. But I also want people to recognize that within weeks of receiving that first shot, our bodies are mounting very substantial immunity. Next question is from Nathan Hart at WCPO in Cincinnati. Hi, Governor. I have a question from a viewer who is a special needs educator. Their students are unable to wear mask. Social distance is due to their disabilities, which puts the educators at a higher risk of getting sick. This fear feels that they should be among the first people that vaccinated because of the risk they face when making decisions about vaccine distribution. Has the state considered situations like these where some educators are at a higher risk than others? Uh, I don't think we have, but that's a very good point, and we'll look at that. We'll see if there's a way we could do that. Nice. Good point. Next question is from Tom Jackson at the Sandusky Register. Tom Tom. Hi, Governor. Thank you for taking my question. I appreciate it, Governor. I ask you about Ohio's vaccination pace about two weeks ago, and you pointed out that were seventh and population and we're seventh in the amount of shots that we've given. Governor. I double checked and we're now ninth among the states. And the number of shots that were given and other statistics suggests that we're not keeping up with the neighboring states. For example, Michigan has a smaller population than we do, but they've given more shots. Have you and your team looked at this? And do you still think we're doing well in comparison to other states? Well, we're never doing well enough as far as I'm concerned. Um, you know, Tom, I haven't looked at the numbers. I'll look, I'll look at those numbers. Well, I look at them every week, as's faras. You know exactly where we are with in regard to other states. I think we've done a very good job and targeting in targeting where we could get the most results. And by that I mean we have a It is quite amazing when you compare Michigan and Ohio with nursing homes. We have phenomenally mawr nursing home beds in Michigan duck. And so you know, that has been a real target, A real priority. Uh, it's one of the reasons that you know, a ZAY said. Over half of our deaths have come out of nursing homes and we have, you know, a huge number of nursing homes, I think maybe second or third in the nation per capital, Uh, in regards in regard to the nursing homes themselves, eso that you know that processes on is ongoing. I think we've targeted correctly in regard to other Congress care settings. Where are where are health departments are going out? We have actually identified over 5000 contract care settings that we've asked our local health departments to go after, and so sometimes that is a little slower because it takes a while to go. Do that. Look, the easiest way to get all the numbers up on the board would be to open up seven sites around the state and just go. But, you know, we don't think that's the way that we protect the most vulnerable people. So I'll look at these numbers. I'll come back and I'll have a little analysis next week. In regard to that. You and I could talk again about that. It's a good it's a good question. And, um, I satisfied. No, I'm never satisfied, You know, we want to get these shots out. No, just a quickly, as quickly as we can. So I'm gonna be back with you. John, if I could add to that look, I just want to emphasize way the governor and the team are trying to get shots out as fast they can. We're targeting at the people that we think are most vulnerable. Um, we all get we all look at different data that people publish the report. We have this morning shows Ohio is having 28 vaccinated. 28,000 more people than Michigan. We've even vaccinated more people than Illinois, which has a larger population. But that doesn't mean we're satisfied with it. You know, I think every state shares that same feeling that you can't go fast enough and you know the team. The team is out there trying to get these out to people in a geographically, you know, balanced way that target every population and try to be fair about it. And when you consider all of those factors, you know these numbers. Um, these numbers are never where we want them to be, but they do compare quite favorably to some of the surrounding states. Next question is from Jeff Reddick, A W S Y X in Columbus. Jeff. Hello, Governor. Two quick questions we continue to receive from people in the elderly community one. They're worried that a zit continue to add people to the eligible population for vaccines that now the 70 plus year olds and 65 plus year olds will be crowded out of getting enough vaccine. That's one concern. The other question about when widespread resuming of visitors at long term care centers might occur now that they're getting to their second round of shots Well, I'll take the second one first. Um, you know, we opened up in July visitation. So this really lies with with the local lies with the nursing home, uh, assisted living place, because we we open this up and we had guidelines. Now we're gonna look at this again. We are looking at this again in regard to what advice? To give to them based upon vaccinations. That was, You know, with people being getting vaccinated, um, and so we'll be giving some advice in regard to that. But the nursing homes have the authority to do this and to set this up and how are you know they want to do it? Way took off that, uh, you know, prohibition months and months ago. So But we also know there's a change in circumstances with people now having been vaccinated in nursing homes. And again, that's why we continue to urge people who work in nursing homes and people who live in nursing homes. People are residents in nursing home. Please get your shot. Um, you know, the more people get shot, the safer is gonna be in that nursing home. And so e don't know Dr Banner off. You want to add anything to that or not? But that's, uh, we're looking at that. Thank you, Governor. I agree with your your statement, and I would just reinforce that we are actively looking at this question in terms of additional guidance that might be appropriate for us to offer them, uh, in partnership with people who practice and the specialty of geriatrics and nursing home care. But we have to remember that we are still in the process of completing the vaccinations across the state for that group. On that there is even a little bit of time after we complete that that we would want their immune systems to have a chance to, um, be fully prepared. So there's a little time here yet. Okay, Van halt. While you're mentioning that, what's the time Period after the second shot? Until we think that whatever the full immunity level is that it kicks in. So, generally speaking, when we're thinking about that second shot, we look for a week to two weeks after that second shot for the immune system to have really had that booster effect, okay? And the second the second question is faras the crowding out we under. I understand that. What I can say is we're gonna hold it 65. And when you talk about people crowding out, crowding them out, we resist. Every day calls for more groups to be added and come in that will get in front of our 65 year old Zahra, 70 or 75 or 80 year olds. So, you know, on the one hand, you know we're getting these questions. Why don't you include our group? And we're pushing back and we're resisting. And the reason we're resisting is the data is still the same. 87% of the people in Ohio who have died of covert have been 65 years of age or older. The other thing that we're seeing some providers do is have their own. They have their own list and they have a wait list. And they started with eight year olds. They started that first week, and some some, uh, places are still working down on that list. Eso In that case, they would get those 80 year olds. But I understand. I understand the challenge we wanted. Open it up. We wanna be able to continue to put out vaccines and have them taken up very, very quickly, which is the other part of the equation of what? What we have to do. Some states just open it up to 65. We said No, we're gonna phase it in over over a matter a few weeks. So it za compromise. I don't know if there's any perfect way to do it. This is how we came down. We think it's for Ohio the right way, but But I understand anybody that you know doesn't think that we should have done it that way. Next question is from Spencer Hickey at Hannah News Service. Thank you, Governor. I was just wondering what your thoughts are on President Biden's plan to increase the amount of state of amount of vaccines going to states each week and what that means for Ohioans. Well, we welcome any new doses eso the announcement. They're going to increase it a 16%. We welcome that and we would welcome anymore. You know, in my letter to the president, I said, we can figure out the rest of this Well, we appreciate the help on the logistics. Any kind of help is great, but we can figure it out. What we really can't do is produce these ourselves. And so if you could in any way, increased production increased shipping way. Love it. You know, this is this is gold. This is saving people's lives, and we can't get it fast enough. Next question is from Andy Chow it Ohio Public Radio and television. Andy. Hi, Governor. Um, talking about the K through 12 schools and vaccinating teachers and staff there, Um, we're hearing about some districts that are getting a certain amount of vaccine but actually need more than what they are getting. And then other districts that have, ah, sort of a first come, first serve online registration program. Will every teacher and staff who wants to get the vaccine will they be able to get a vaccine or is that supply also scarce? Now they will be able to they will be able to get it. Um, you know, it's going to be important for them during to get it during that week. Um, because, you know, sometimes we've got traveling groups, they're bringing it coming in and doing the vaccinating, so it's very, very important for us to you know, for them to get it during that window. But we have calculated, based upon data that we've received from the schools, how much they will need. What we don't know for sure, because we never know, is what the uptake will be, what percentage of the school personnel will actually want to take it. But our goal is to vaccinate anybody in that school who's in that school building with students, anybody that school should be able to get vaccinated. Next question is from Laura Hancock at Cleveland. Com GOVERNOR The FBI has found Ohio connections to the insurrection at the US Capitol. Accused militants organized what they called basic training outside of Columbus in early January. Ohio seems to become a breeding ground for this extremism and to kill Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan had a meeting in Dublin. Um, are you were you guys aware of the Columbus basic training? And now that there's a Homeland Security alert about the domestic terrorists, does a state change who and what activities it looks for? And what do you think about Ohio? Kind of becoming a breeding ground for domestic terrorism. Well, I think I've talked at this press conference before, Uh, about the fact that we have domestic terrorists in Ohio, and I'm very concerned about it. A Sfar is the actual training. I'm not sure I knew knew that. But we have known for some time that we have some extremists in Ohio, and we have some dangerous people in Ohio. And the recent arrests that were made certainly certainly confirm that. So you were breaking up. Laura couldn't hear all of your question. Was there anymore? Your question that didn't answer. Um, does it change how you got how Ohio investigates and looks at this picture now, that is, um, alert. Sure. I think I think everyone you know, if you look at what the FBI put out this week, what was what was put out? Briefings, Uh, that our team has received. Yes, we're concerned, and I But I think every state, frankly is, is on a much higher level of of concerned, But yes, we are. Next question is from Chelsea. Sick It W k f in Dayton. Hi, Governor. Thanks so much for taking my question. We've received 50 calls and text from our viewers and less than 24 hours about unemployment. concerns, Many frustrated They can't get through the job and family services with their questions. What should they do if they can't get through or can't get their questions answered? And now that system updates will be complete on January 31st when two people That's the money. Yeah, I don't know the answer to the last question, but what we're doing very actively now. And I'm announced. This is the last Press conference is abundantly clear. The state government cannot fix this the way I want it fixed. And so we're going out into the private sector. We've already had several meetings. Uh, we have We'll have something to announce shortly. Uh, we're gonna bring some people in from the private sector quite candidly to run the unemployment section. It is. I could make all the excuses in the world. I could stand here, but that doesn't do anybody any good. Who's not getting a check? I mean, there's reasons for this, but we got to get it fixed, and we're gonna do it. Next question is from Jesse Bomber at the Cincinnati Enquirer. Hello, Governor. Jesse. Mhm. I know we're obviously still working through this one B group um, But when will we know who is next in line? And how will your team be making those decisions? Jesse, our decisions will be made on protecting lives that that's the most important thing that we could do. We had two things that were had to be dealt with besides protecting directly protecting lives. And every time you give anybody a shot, you're protecting lives. But getting kids in school particular and protecting our health work, those should be behind us. And so as we by time we get to this next group. But I want to remind everybody that Group one B is big 2.2 million people. So it's gonna take a while toe work through to point B are to be, and that's going to take a while. But we're working on where we go next. I would just remind everybody that when you when you talk to the experts and when you look at the numbers again, the best predictor is age. So the best predictor is age, and but it's gonna take us a while to get the 65 years of age older and done. You know where everybody who wants a vaccine in that age group, eyes able to get it. And I said, It's about 2.2 million people who are in, uh, the 11 B group, and that's gonna take a while. And we're still finishing up. As you know, some, as I talked about earlier some of the Congress care settings one a local health departments doing this. They're doing a good job. But this this is a slow process because, you know, these are small kind of care settings. They're not very big, so it's not very efficient as you go after to try to vaccinate them. So that that is continuing as well. Ex question is from Kevin Landers WBNS in Columbus. Good afternoon, Governor Kevin. Our teachers, who teach 100% from home, going to get a shot at the same time. Those teachers who teach in person and if so, why? And what is your timetable on when the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will arrive in Ohio? Yeah, well, can't be soon enough. You know, my timetable is yesterday, but, you know, we're hearing maybe, maybe late February, maybe march, but I don't think anyone knows. I don't think anyone knows for sure. As's faras, the teachers e mean we have really left this up to schools. I mean the idea. You know, Kevin, the idea is to get kids back in school, obviously, to get kids back in school, you get teachers back in school. So if there's a teacher who is, you know, working from home but wants to go, you know, maybe has some, uh, medical problems, medical issues. That's why they've been working home. They've been very careful. Um, you know, there's certainly eligible to be vaccinated and to go to go back into school. But we've really relied. We can't micromanage this at the school level. We're relying on the schools to make a good faith effort in regard to who needs who needs to be vaccinated. Next question is from Merritt studies that wlwt in Cincinnati. Good afternoon, Governor. Afternoon. Good afternoon. Hey, my question is, what is you and your teams Long term plan to make it easier for people to sign up for their vaccines because right now, here in the tri state Cincinnati area, we're having people potentially wait on the phone for seven hours to get there. Vaccine. And once we add new groups like 17 up and then eventually 65 up, and so on. Especially for so many individuals who are responsible for signing up for their vaccine who may not have reliable Internet access. What is your team's plan for a better long term vaccine? Sign up. Well, for those people who can access the Internet, our goal is to we're developing, and we should have this fairly soon. Ah, way that you could go Baby will go on the Internet and one place, one portal, and you will be able then to link in in your county to places. And you will be able to register by the Internet so that that should speed things up or make life simpler. It remains a challenge askew point out for people who can't navigate the Internet. And you know what we're seeing is, uh, some doctors offices are literally calling people. Um, we're having some hospitals are doing that. Health departments are doing that, but we're gonna We're constantly looking at this and talking with our local health department partners about what else we can do to reach the earlier question is you heard people who you know may live remotely in the county. Uh, people who by themselves there, 90 years of age, um, people who can navigate a phone. But, you know, they could take a call, but they, you know, don't want to navigate the Internet. So it look, it's a work in progress. It's not perfect. But we're working with our local partners to continue to focus on that. We understand it's a problem. And look, we're not gonna be satisfied until we get every person you know over the age of 65 who wants to be vaccinators 65 older, who wants to be vaccinated. And we know that this is, uh, imperative. There's a moral imperative that we get this done. Next question is from Jim Adia. W h I O in Dayton. Hey, Jim. Governor, could you Governor, could you talk about the timing of supply you mentioned earlier? The president's announcement that we're going to have quite additional supply of the vaccine at some point in the future? But when might that arrive in Ohio? Realistically speaking. And how does that influence your planning here when you start to expand eligibility? Well, Jim, we can't get the vaccine soon enough as we've made playing to the Biden administration, we could do a lot of things, Ohio. But what we can't do is, you know, way can't grow these vaccines. And so we're depending on the federal government and the and the drug companies. Pharmaceutical companies to, uh, step up the production of the vaccine. So I think every governors in the same boat, you know, this is what we're all looking for. We're looking form or vaccine as we get more vaccine. You know, if we had a ton more vaccine tomorrow, we just put it right out. We have 750 locations in Ohio. That air now giving out vaccine. We we have a total of 2200 already signed up. Who said we will give out vaccine if if you have it for us. We also at that point would go to some sites around the state that would be drive through, uh, some sites that would be more mass vaccinating. We've hesitated to do that and have not done that. Really? Because we wanna make sure that whatever county you live in, whether you're and Mercer County or in Vinton County, Brown county wherever you live that you've got in your county locations, where there is vaccine. And so we've We've resisted going to this big mass sites, but we're ready to ramp up. We will not have a problem dealing with more vaccine. Our problem is not enough vaccine. Next question is from Scott Allison, the Senior Daily Gazette. Hey, Governor, how are you, Scott? Um, excuse me or forgive me, I guess if this question has already been asked previously, But, um, do the pharmacies that air giving the vaccination Do they have the knowledge to overcome any negative reactions Or they trained on what to do with an anaphylactic situation Occurs? Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna let Bruce You won't take that. Yes, absolutely. Um, the ability to respond to an an if lactic reaction after a vaccine is not at all unique to these vaccines. You know, clearly it's an important capability with these vaccines, but, uh, administrating sites and our pharmacies around the state provide ah, large number of vaccines always have to be prepared with any vaccine administration for the potential of banana flagstick reaction. Eso The short answer is yes. They should be well prepared. to administer the necessary medications and call for the necessary health. Next question is from Randy Ludlow at the Columbus Dispatch. Randi. Good afternoon, Governor. Um, next Monday you're scheduled. Thio, roll out your proposed by any old budget. Uh, the hit on the state tax take from the virus has not been a bad as anticipated. Uh, walking on islands. Expect to see on Monday as far as your budget rollout and the commitment, it's reflecting your suggested allocation of state dollars. Well, a quick preview emphasis on the quick, I guess. Randy, you know, our budget is going to be similar in many respects to our first budget in that we're investing in Ohio ones. We're investing in our young people. We have more focused on early childhood education, early childhood development, um, focusing on mental health, three addiction problem. We really look at this is our year of recovery. And so we've got. Although the economy is doing okay, we know we've got toe crank this up and it will be a budget. I think that will help Ohio moved to being the premier place in the Midwest for job creation. The best place in the Midwest toe live. We're already seeing people move into Ohio. Uh, kind of interesting statistics out of the last few days have been in the paper, but it's gonna be a forward, very forward looking budget investing in our people. Governor, Next question is the last question for today, and it belongs to James Pilch er from Wkrc in Cincinnati. Good afternoon, Governor. How are you today? I'm well okay, quick question my two questions. First hold on a second. Why was Hamilton County the only county? I mean, I'm sorry, Cincinnati. Why was Cincinnati Public Schools the only school A system in Hamilton County included on the first list? And why was kinda Hoga County get no schools on that first list for vaccinations for teachers? And my second question, you mentioned the budget. Why will it include any possible increases in unemployment taxes? Given the added burden, given the current situation with the economy. Thank you. No to the second as's faras The Why Cincinnati. Look, we have to start somewhere. I got a call, frankly, from the superintendent, uh, in Cincinnati, who said I gotta get my kids back in our whole purpose in doing this and vaccinating um, schools personality to get kids in school. Eso Cincinnati is gonna actually roll out over a period of, I think, three weeks. So, uh, they started on Thursday, Uh, k through three. The idea is to get k through three back in quickly, and then their plan is to move beyond that. So the vaccinations that we agreed to our I believe over the next over the next three weeks. And if you look at just to kind of summarize if you look at what How we're setting up vaccinations in schools, comes back to I can't vaccinate everybody, Every educator in Ohio in one week, somebody's gotta be first. Somebody's gotta be last. Um, and it's it's the things that I talked about a while ago, this news conference. It's a scheduling question. We want to do it efficiently. We want to do it quickly. We want to try to do all county at one time. So what you'll find is that most counties will get vaccinated all the schools in that county within a one week period. Some it's going take two weeks. So we're trying to keep it simple for people, and we're gonna try to take the vaccination as close as we can to people. But there's always gonna be I've got emails from how come you let somebody go first? How come you let you know you let somebody else go and, uh you know, look, if you if you if you look at the first week or two, you find ah, lot of schools in Hamilton County. So, uh, since I schools got, you know, a two or three day jump and that we were able to do it washing our original plan, we were able to do it. And again, we gotta keep an eye on the ball. And by keeping eye on the ball, our goal is to get kids in school get kids back in school. That's what that's It's a simple as that. Well, thank everybody will look forward toa to seeing you next week, and we'll be back here on on Tuesday. Thank you very much. Mhm.
mhm. Afternoon, everyone. We continue the today to vaccinate those 75 years of age and older throughout Ohio. Next week we'll go to 70 week. After that, we'll go to 65 we have with us today. We're gonna go first to Kroger's in Cincinnati. Where pharmacists Rob Hayes Eyes administering vaccines. Dr. Hayes, how are things going today? Hello. Things are going great. And how did people make an appointment if they want to get vaccinated? A Kroger pharmacy. How did they go about doing that? Here to Kroger dot com. Backslash, Ohio. Two of the vaccine. Very, very good. Mr. Han, how are you doing? I'm doing just fine. I'm happy to be here. Well, we're happy you're going to get a shot today. Uh, how you feel about this? You excited, or I feel very good about it. Um, I think this is a great opportunity of I thought about the opportunity to get vaccination. And I started my career teaching civics in high school. That elder high school and one of the books was called The Common Good and getting vaccinated. It's not only good for me, but it's it's good for the common good as well. Well, that's that's great. That is great. How many years do you teach? I taught for two, and then I went to work for the Kroger company for 38 years. Retired in 2000 and seven. Very good. Well, we're gonna watch you get a shot. You all right? All right. Okay. Mr. Han, you're doing okay there. Feel great. Didn't feel the thing. Painless. You both have a good day. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Welcome. Thank you, Mr Governor. Good day. Thank you. We're gonna go across the state of the Mahoning Valley. Giant Eagle pharmacist Rebecca Clark is administering vaccines to Ohioans today and in the Austin town Giant Eagle. Dr. Clark, how are you doing today? I'm doing well. How are you? They going? Okay, It sounds great. Very good. Mr. Johnson, how are you doing? Very good. You're readyto get the shot, Mr Johnson. Oh, yeah. I've been ready for a week. You've probably been ready more than that, haven't you? I've been looking forward to today. Imagine I sure have been. That's great. Well, we're gonna watch you get the shot, then. Yeah. Mr. Johnson, you're doing okay. Oh, Yeah, very good. Well, that that is that is great. We wanna thank both of you and hope you all have a great day. Appreciate it very much. Thank you very much. Thank you again. This week, Ohio and 75 years in age and order are eligible to be vaccinated. We're also vaccinating this week people with intellectual developmental disabilities and who have also certain medical conditions. Uh, these individuals are being contacted directly in regard to getting the shots. Um, Monday, February 1st, we'll goto Ohio on 70 in order in a week from there will be at 65 then we will hold it at 65. Let me talk now about schools and maybe kind of give you an update on where we are. This is the most recent slide. Remember? We looked at this, I think two, maybe three weeks ago now and then we had about a third of our kids in school full time. About a third of them totally remote. Another third that were hybrid remote part of the week and in person, part of the week. You'll see that I think, in anticipation of the vaccinations you're starting to see these numbers change. And so, uh, this is the percentage of students, um, so for in person 373 176 district's. And that constitutes almost 46% of the population of our students go down full remote down here. That that is now down to 17.6%. So it was about 33% and then partial in person, 36%. So we're seeing a movement away from the fully remote to either either partial the hybrid or two more in person, and that's a good That's a good, good sign. Let me talk about how the vaccination is going to take place, and we've had a couple schools that have already started, but we're really going to get started on this next week. About 500 different schools public in private parochial schools, charter schools, public charter schools, uh, will be getting vaccinated. Their faculty, uh, and personnel beginning vaccinated next week. Our goals, we have said, is to try to get every child back in school by March 1. And if you look at our public schools, uh, every public school is now signed except one S o. You know, we're happy with that. They've all agreed to go back in school March 1. Some of them have been in in person. Some of them have been, uh, in and out based upon this, the situation in the community. But they've all signed that the goal is to go back March 1. All except one district to help schools return safely to in person education. We prioritize vaccinating the K through 12 school employees. The goal for doing this? The reason that we're doing this is to get kids back in school. Uh, this vaccination is available to teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians, Uh, you know, anyone who's in that in that, really, in that school building now the schools will who will have access actions to vaccine Week one have already been notified, and we have put that list out tomorrow. We will notify all other schools which week of the four weeks which week they will actually get the vaccination. Most of them will be able to complete that in a week. Some of our larger counties the county will not be able to totally get done in a week, and it will take, and it will take two weeks. Um, the plan that we will be announcing tomorrow has been created with several important factors in mind. I know people have been texting means that how you know, how come these other schools started? How come we haven't started? And look, I I understand. But what I just say is that the schools and school personnel are really being put at the front of the line for the sole purpose of getting kids back in school, keeping kids in school. For all the reasons that we have we have talked about and how very, very important. Uh, this is so the school personnel are really will be in front of 11 or so million, uh, of their fellow Ohio ones. So I know everyone wants to start next Monday next week. We simply do not have the supplies to do that. We don't have enough vaccine to do that. We have to spread this out over that period of time. We've done all we can to make this simple for K through 12 staff to get vaccinated. They will be contacted by their local school district. This plan that we have will allow most of the k through 12 staff in a county to be vaccinated within seven days. The goal is to make the logistics of this as easy as possible locally to maximize the capacity of local vaccination partners, those people who are doing the vaccinations. We have a limited supply of the vaccine. We pulled vaccine from our statewide allocation specifically for vaccinating our K through 12 staff. There just isn't enough to do every school in the first week. It's simply impossible. And we want to be able to continue to vaccinate throughout the month of February. Those who are older Ohioans. And so we're on on several different tracks here. Those are the two biggest tracks were trying to do these two things to two things at once. Roughly, uh, we hope to have about 100,000, uh, vaccines available for people who are are the older population. Every week at the same time will be having about 55,000 that will go to our schools. Those air those generally rough, rough numbers. Um, this is it's a logistical issues you can imagine. We create the plan in this way to ensure that counties convey vaccinate the maximum number of people. As I said in the shortest amount of time, Um, local educational service centers are working with local health departments and retail pharmacies to facilitate vaccinations that air convenient for school staff. So we're trying to get this easy for school staff to be able to do this. For example, there will be an on site vaccination clinic is just one example. You'll be an on site vaccination clinic and Hilliard Davidson High School. So in some cases there go right to the school. In others, there'll be a place where a number of different schools will be going to. But the idea is to separate, uh, are order Ohioans who are getting it on this one track to separate those from the people in school so they will not be directly competing against each other. Uh, frankly for space, and they will be going to different places. So again, this is how we're going to unfold. This, um, I want to go now to Director Laurie Chris. Um, we know that for some of our students, not being in school personally has been tough in a number of ways, not just academically, but sometimes emotionally socially. Um, mental health point of view. So I asked the director how department Mental Health and Addiction Services director Lloyd Chris to to talk to us a little bit about what kind of resource is air out there. Maybe for those families, uh, they're struggling. Director. Thank you very much for joining us. Absolutely, Governor, thank you so much for inviting me to talk about youth mental health, which is a top priority for your administration. And we've been working hard, as you know, to promote mental health throughout this pandemic. We're building out ways for kids and families to get support through programs like Be Present and the Ohio Caroline. We're working in communities with youth groups and coalitions, faith congregation schools and providers to promote mental health, prevent substance use, prevent suicide and provide in person and telehealth counseling to families when they need it. We're monitoring data to inform our efforts and listening toe local experiences. And in communities across the state, youth are presenting with more acute mental health symptoms during the pandemic than normally experienced. School is community for kids. It benefits them beyond their academic content. It's the social and emotional connections the kids feel with friends, classmates, extracurriculars, teachers and more. Mrs. Diorio taught me in the seventh grade, and decades later I still value the relationship that she forged with me beyond the formal lessons in her classroom. But it wasn't just her. It was our school secretary, Mrs Mall and our nurse, Mrs Anderson, and I saw that in my own kids experience and how they connected with the whole staff, from preschool to high school, Miss Barbed, the cook and Mr Moon who managed the facilities. All of these adults build up our Children's mental health and notice and support them when things don't seem to be going well, they give a smile, a quiet place to sit, a silly joke, a snack. They help extend healthy connections outside of the home, and they often fill in for safety and predictability. At times when there's went, home is struggling. Okay, When kids aren't in school, there are many reasons to be concerned about their mental health. The change of routine and constant uncertainty of the pandemic produces anxiety. Disconnection from learning. Emotional and social supports can lead to depression, miss significant events like graduations, prom's arts performances, science, fair sports and more can result in grief. Families and friends should reach out for help. If a young person is talking about feeling hopeless, worrying about being a burden, feeling like there's no reason to live using drugs, alcohol or engaging in other risky behaviors, struggling with school or disconnecting from family and friends, you can call the Ohio care line at 1 807 to 09616 to talk with the train counselor 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They can help with the crisis, provide guidance or connect you to help in the community. Governor again, Thanks for giving me the time to talk today about the importance of mental health for Ohio's youth. Actually, you wanna thank you very much. You want to give that Ohio Caroline again for us, please? Absolutely. It's 1 800 7 to 09616 Ex director. Appreciate it very much, Eric. Let's go to the data slide first. As you can see numbers. Tadeusz Faras cases air down in the 5000 range still a very high number, but certainly a lot better than what we've been seeing. Eso. We've had a downturn in the last week or so. Uh, so again, that is below 21 day average our deaths, sadly, 75 which is about where we've been, uh, same way with hospitalization. It's about the 21 day average in the same way with her. I see you admissions, Eric. Let's look at the next one. This is our alert map. You'll see. This is our alert map. You just see one change, and that is Hamilton County is no longer purple. Looks similar to last week's. But that is the That is the rial change that we see here. Eric, let's look at the hospitalization numbers. If we could we we continue to see a downward trend. This is the number of people who have covert who are in our hospital. So it Zaveri lagging indicator comes up very late, but it is obviously a hard number. No one goes into a hospital with cove it because they want to. So these air these air good numbers. And if you recall, if you recall, we set up a guideline that I announced on Tuesday, and so that is way put it below 3500 for seven days. What we said that we would do is to go to an 11 o'clock curfew. Eso Beginning tonight, the curfew will be 11 o'clock. Beginning tonight, the curfew will be 11 oclock. We will look at this again in two weeks and we'll see where we are. If this trend continues, we may be able to go to midnight on if it really continues to get, uh, fewer and fewer people and we get down to seven days at 2500 below 2500, then we would be able to go with no curfew. So again, to recap tonight we start the 11 o'clock curfew because of the progress that we've made with the number of people in the hospitals, those numbers going down, we have 77 days, uh, below 35 3500. And, uh, we'll take a look at this two weeks from today and we'll see exactly where we are. And we hope, if it continues, will be either to go to a midnight curfew or to eliminate the curfew completely. Lieutenant Governor. Thanks, Governor. Uh, it's I know that I do a weekly discussion with the restaurant Association and they are excited about the curfew, Um, changes in the in the strategy going forward so that I know they expressed gratitude about that. And since we only have an hour today, I'm gonna just stick on the topic of of restaurants and in the hospitality industry. Um, in addition to those conversations I've had with the restaurant association, they and all the other small businesses value the $8 billion dividend rebates that we've been able to get from the BWC. They were also, uh, celebrating $125 million for small businesses in the $38 million for liquor control and liquor liquor payments, $25 payments for situations where, um, business is a restaurant, a bar bowling alley has a liquor permit. And one of the things Restaurant Association has been emphasizing is they're dying safe effort. They're really making a new effort to try toe, make their customers feel safe and provide a variety of options to serve their customers, whether that's safely inside with carry out or delivery. And one of the things that they mentioned that I wanna highlight today is how we all can look out for their employees. The people who are struggling to make ends meet during these difficult times and and the restaurant association. Many of the pizza shops around the state have announced an initiative called Um uh, it is having to do with 100 120 pizza shops around Ohio. Participate in what's called pizza with a purpose. Pizza with a purpose. They want to donate a dollar for every pepperoni pizza that's been sold this week to the Ohio Restaurant Employees Relief Fund, and I I highlight this one. It's important, but there are a number of businesses. They're doing these kinds of things for their employees to look out for them, uh, to help them, uh, during difficult times because they want to keep them. They want to keep them in the industry so that when things pick up. So if you want to help out, uh, in your community and you want to know the restaurants that are participating in this, go to Ohio restaurants relief dot or GTA. There are a number of things going on in your community where restaurants are donating a portion of the proceeds to help with restaurant employees. Relief. So I wanna highlight those things. Uh, it is, uh, it is something that I know that the restaurants are excited to do. They're excited with the expanded hours with a curfew. And I know they will want me to remind that we all have toe. They want to get that number below 2500. And they know that we now have a goal that if everybody is safe, if we wear masks and get our vaccines and do the things that we need to do to keep to keep reducing the number of hospitalizations, that that day could come sooner. And so all of us need to pitch in. We're We've been saying this from the very beginning that we're all in it together. And this is just another way you can help. So thanks, Governor. Lieutenant Governor, thank you very much. And we'll go to questions. Governor, the first question today is from Jim Province that the Toledo Blade. Jim. Hi, Governor. Thanks again for doing this. Um, next week, the state begins vaccinating those 70 and older, and that group includes you and the first lady. Do you plan to go through the same appointment process that we're asking all other Ohioans to go through. And do you still plan to be vaccinated Live during one of your briefings? Well, I hope to Fran, I hope to our our provider is doctor Sheriff who is with the Kettering Health Network. And that's where we'll be getting vaccinated. That's how we'll be doing it. Next question is from Adrian Robbins of WCMH in Columbus. Governor, thank you for doing this. Um, I understand that several groups have been lobbying your office to be part of the vaccine plan. One of them recently has been funeral workers who look at the surrounding states where they were included with health care workers. Why wasn't these death care workers included? Is it an oversight by the state and in the same vein, I know we're gonna hold it 65 years and older. When will we get a new idea of the additional groups? After that, that could be coming up in this vaccine pool. Well, people who do in bombing, I think make a very, very strong case, and we're actually reviewing that right now. We don't have anything to announce, you know, The challenges you know is we really have not gone by a definition of essential workers. Um, you know, in regard to schools, we've made that decision to get kids in school. We want our kids back in school. Eso We're vaccinating our teachers and other school personnel, and we're happy to be able to protect them. Uh, but the ultimate goal was to get kids kids back in school, we have based what decisions we have made with a very limited amount of the vaccine that we have on how we can save the most. Live as quick as we can, how we can. You know, we started with our nursing homes, and we've made real progress in regard to our nursing homes over 900 of them. Now, we've gone through once now into a second phase going through there, we've got specialized individuals who medically are particularly vulnerable, and that is that has started to occur, or it has been occurring as well. So, you know, we've really not looked at this Azaz these air, the essential workers to keep the economy going or these the essential workers Certainly keeping the funerals tragically. Keeping that moving forward obviously is very important. So we're looking at this and now we're reviewing it and see what the experts say, and we'll get back to you on that as far as our funeral directors, but way hear them. Um, taking a look at next question is from Alex Ebert at Bloomberg. Good afternoon, Governor. What is the state doing to target vaccinations for individual elderly folks that are living on their own at home? I know you had mentioned that the state is creating teams that are going to go to living centers to help get folks in these age brackets vaccinated. What is the state doing anything to target folks that might not be congregated and might be a little bit more isolated? Thank you. Sure. Sure way are. We're working through the area agency on aging groups Number one. We're also working through the local health departments had a conversation today one of our cities in regard to the local health departments that they know. You know where a lot of these people are. So it is trying to target these individuals at the same time that we get vaccine in as many arms as we can. So it's not perfect. As I said, we announced it, uh, Tuesday, one of things that were going to be doing. And these are people who you know sometimes there in high rises, sometimes they're not so high rise. But there's a people who have their own apartments on who basically live live by themselves. But your question, it takes it even one step further. You know, someone who is more remote living living by themselves. And so we're continued to work on that and continue to refine that, frankly, working with their local health departments on that next question is from Patrick O'Donnell at the 74 million or gig. Hi. So I've got what kind of one question with a couple parts to it. Um, how strictly are you going to hold schools to the March 1 reopening date? Um, can they delay because of community infection rates or other local safety factors? And we've got some districts were wanting to wait until staff received both vaccine doses before reopening, which we know really can't happen for most by March 1. Is there any flexibility here? Well, this is a matter of good faith. Quite candidly. Um, you know, each school signed a document every school, but one signed a document and said Well, you know, we'll be back on March 1. Now for some of them, that's not a heavy lift, because they've already done it already in other ones. Air going back there somewhere. Hybrid eso, You know, we've given some leeway in regard to you. Could be five days a week or you could be hybrid. We'd like for them to be five days a week, but we wanted to create some leeway for them to be able to do that. Ah, lot of schools. The personnel will have been vaccinated the second time. Uh, number of them will not, and we'll be finishing that up in the first early weeks of March. So our goal is to have everybody back March 1. And again, I think that, you know, we talked about this before Dr Brennan off may have something to add to this, but we've learned so much mawr as we've been through this school year. And, you know, we know a lot more than we knew to begin with. And we even know a lot more than we knew two months ago or three months ago. And we first started seeing it where we're principles and in school superintendents were telling me, Look, we're not getting spread in class. We're just not getting spread. We have Mary over here. She had co vid and nobody. Nobody got it in that classroom. You know, they quarantined, but nobody ended up getting it. So that way we told you we ran a study. We actually studied it, and study clearly shows it's not happening. So I think that piece of information, plus national studies that have been done, show that a teacher couldn't feel pretty confident if you go into that classroom and everyone's wearing a mask and schools are doing this and the teachers and everybody in the school buildings were in a mask, that the spread is is really low in that in that building. And you add to that that everyone will have had the first shot, and I'll leave it to Dr Vanderhof just to take it here for a moment and talk about the you know, the value of that first shot because there is there is real value, Doctor. Yes, thank you very much, Governor. I think you said it very well. First, in terms of the safety of the environment, schools now have become our second clear example of the impact, the power of masking and distancing. We saw that first, of course, with health care where, uh way were able to create a very safe environment using, masking and distancing in terms of vaccination, it's becoming increasingly clear that we develop very robust immunity, a za result of our first shot. It's not complete. We do need that second shot, that booster shot to assure that we have been that long lasting immunity that is going to be so important, uh, for our fight against Cove in. So I don't want anyone to think that for these vaccines, a single shot is enough. It's not. But I also want people to recognize that within weeks of receiving that first shot, our bodies are mounting very substantial immunity. Next question is from Nathan Hart at WCPO in Cincinnati. Hi, Governor. I have a question from a viewer who is a special needs educator. Their students are unable to wear mask. Social distance is due to their disabilities, which puts the educators at a higher risk of getting sick. This fear feels that they should be among the first people that vaccinated because of the risk they face when making decisions about vaccine distribution. Has the state considered situations like these where some educators are at a higher risk than others? Uh, I don't think we have, but that's a very good point, and we'll look at that. We'll see if there's a way we could do that. Nice. Good point. Next question is from Tom Jackson at the Sandusky Register. Tom Tom. Hi, Governor. Thank you for taking my question. I appreciate it, Governor. I ask you about Ohio's vaccination pace about two weeks ago, and you pointed out that were seventh and population and we're seventh in the amount of shots that we've given. Governor. I double checked and we're now ninth among the states. And the number of shots that were given and other statistics suggests that we're not keeping up with the neighboring states. For example, Michigan has a smaller population than we do, but they've given more shots. Have you and your team looked at this? And do you still think we're doing well in comparison to other states? Well, we're never doing well enough as far as I'm concerned. Um, you know, Tom, I haven't looked at the numbers. I'll look, I'll look at those numbers. Well, I look at them every week, as's faras. You know exactly where we are with in regard to other states. I think we've done a very good job and targeting in targeting where we could get the most results. And by that I mean we have a It is quite amazing when you compare Michigan and Ohio with nursing homes. We have phenomenally mawr nursing home beds in Michigan duck. And so you know, that has been a real target, A real priority. Uh, it's one of the reasons that you know, a ZAY said. Over half of our deaths have come out of nursing homes and we have, you know, a huge number of nursing homes, I think maybe second or third in the nation per capital, Uh, in regards in regard to the nursing homes themselves, eso that you know that processes on is ongoing. I think we've targeted correctly in regard to other Congress care settings. Where are where are health departments are going out? We have actually identified over 5000 contract care settings that we've asked our local health departments to go after, and so sometimes that is a little slower because it takes a while to go. Do that. Look, the easiest way to get all the numbers up on the board would be to open up seven sites around the state and just go. But, you know, we don't think that's the way that we protect the most vulnerable people. So I'll look at these numbers. I'll come back and I'll have a little analysis next week. In regard to that. You and I could talk again about that. It's a good it's a good question. And, um, I satisfied. No, I'm never satisfied, You know, we want to get these shots out. No, just a quickly, as quickly as we can. So I'm gonna be back with you. John, if I could add to that look, I just want to emphasize way the governor and the team are trying to get shots out as fast they can. We're targeting at the people that we think are most vulnerable. Um, we all get we all look at different data that people publish the report. We have this morning shows Ohio is having 28 vaccinated. 28,000 more people than Michigan. We've even vaccinated more people than Illinois, which has a larger population. But that doesn't mean we're satisfied with it. You know, I think every state shares that same feeling that you can't go fast enough and you know the team. The team is out there trying to get these out to people in a geographically, you know, balanced way that target every population and try to be fair about it. And when you consider all of those factors, you know these numbers. Um, these numbers are never where we want them to be, but they do compare quite favorably to some of the surrounding states. Next question is from Jeff Reddick, A W S Y X in Columbus. Jeff. Hello, Governor. Two quick questions we continue to receive from people in the elderly community one. They're worried that a zit continue to add people to the eligible population for vaccines that now the 70 plus year olds and 65 plus year olds will be crowded out of getting enough vaccine. That's one concern. The other question about when widespread resuming of visitors at long term care centers might occur now that they're getting to their second round of shots Well, I'll take the second one first. Um, you know, we opened up in July visitation. So this really lies with with the local lies with the nursing home, uh, assisted living place, because we we open this up and we had guidelines. Now we're gonna look at this again. We are looking at this again in regard to what advice? To give to them based upon vaccinations. That was, You know, with people being getting vaccinated, um, and so we'll be giving some advice in regard to that. But the nursing homes have the authority to do this and to set this up and how are you know they want to do it? Way took off that, uh, you know, prohibition months and months ago. So But we also know there's a change in circumstances with people now having been vaccinated in nursing homes. And again, that's why we continue to urge people who work in nursing homes and people who live in nursing homes. People are residents in nursing home. Please get your shot. Um, you know, the more people get shot, the safer is gonna be in that nursing home. And so e don't know Dr Banner off. You want to add anything to that or not? But that's, uh, we're looking at that. Thank you, Governor. I agree with your your statement, and I would just reinforce that we are actively looking at this question in terms of additional guidance that might be appropriate for us to offer them, uh, in partnership with people who practice and the specialty of geriatrics and nursing home care. But we have to remember that we are still in the process of completing the vaccinations across the state for that group. On that there is even a little bit of time after we complete that that we would want their immune systems to have a chance to, um, be fully prepared. So there's a little time here yet. Okay, Van halt. While you're mentioning that, what's the time Period after the second shot? Until we think that whatever the full immunity level is that it kicks in. So, generally speaking, when we're thinking about that second shot, we look for a week to two weeks after that second shot for the immune system to have really had that booster effect, okay? And the second the second question is faras the crowding out we under. I understand that. What I can say is we're gonna hold it 65. And when you talk about people crowding out, crowding them out, we resist. Every day calls for more groups to be added and come in that will get in front of our 65 year old Zahra, 70 or 75 or 80 year olds. So, you know, on the one hand, you know we're getting these questions. Why don't you include our group? And we're pushing back and we're resisting. And the reason we're resisting is the data is still the same. 87% of the people in Ohio who have died of covert have been 65 years of age or older. The other thing that we're seeing some providers do is have their own. They have their own list and they have a wait list. And they started with eight year olds. They started that first week, and some some, uh, places are still working down on that list. Eso In that case, they would get those 80 year olds. But I understand. I understand the challenge we wanted. Open it up. We wanna be able to continue to put out vaccines and have them taken up very, very quickly, which is the other part of the equation of what? What we have to do. Some states just open it up to 65. We said No, we're gonna phase it in over over a matter a few weeks. So it za compromise. I don't know if there's any perfect way to do it. This is how we came down. We think it's for Ohio the right way, but But I understand anybody that you know doesn't think that we should have done it that way. Next question is from Spencer Hickey at Hannah News Service. Thank you, Governor. I was just wondering what your thoughts are on President Biden's plan to increase the amount of state of amount of vaccines going to states each week and what that means for Ohioans. Well, we welcome any new doses eso the announcement. They're going to increase it a 16%. We welcome that and we would welcome anymore. You know, in my letter to the president, I said, we can figure out the rest of this Well, we appreciate the help on the logistics. Any kind of help is great, but we can figure it out. What we really can't do is produce these ourselves. And so if you could in any way, increased production increased shipping way. Love it. You know, this is this is gold. This is saving people's lives, and we can't get it fast enough. Next question is from Andy Chow it Ohio Public Radio and television. Andy. Hi, Governor. Um, talking about the K through 12 schools and vaccinating teachers and staff there, Um, we're hearing about some districts that are getting a certain amount of vaccine but actually need more than what they are getting. And then other districts that have, ah, sort of a first come, first serve online registration program. Will every teacher and staff who wants to get the vaccine will they be able to get a vaccine or is that supply also scarce? Now they will be able to they will be able to get it. Um, you know, it's going to be important for them during to get it during that week. Um, because, you know, sometimes we've got traveling groups, they're bringing it coming in and doing the vaccinating, so it's very, very important for us to you know, for them to get it during that window. But we have calculated, based upon data that we've received from the schools, how much they will need. What we don't know for sure, because we never know, is what the uptake will be, what percentage of the school personnel will actually want to take it. But our goal is to vaccinate anybody in that school who's in that school building with students, anybody that school should be able to get vaccinated. Next question is from Laura Hancock at Cleveland. Com GOVERNOR The FBI has found Ohio connections to the insurrection at the US Capitol. Accused militants organized what they called basic training outside of Columbus in early January. Ohio seems to become a breeding ground for this extremism and to kill Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan had a meeting in Dublin. Um, are you were you guys aware of the Columbus basic training? And now that there's a Homeland Security alert about the domestic terrorists, does a state change who and what activities it looks for? And what do you think about Ohio? Kind of becoming a breeding ground for domestic terrorism. Well, I think I've talked at this press conference before, Uh, about the fact that we have domestic terrorists in Ohio, and I'm very concerned about it. A Sfar is the actual training. I'm not sure I knew knew that. But we have known for some time that we have some extremists in Ohio, and we have some dangerous people in Ohio. And the recent arrests that were made certainly certainly confirm that. So you were breaking up. Laura couldn't hear all of your question. Was there anymore? Your question that didn't answer. Um, does it change how you got how Ohio investigates and looks at this picture now, that is, um, alert. Sure. I think I think everyone you know, if you look at what the FBI put out this week, what was what was put out? Briefings, Uh, that our team has received. Yes, we're concerned, and I But I think every state, frankly is, is on a much higher level of of concerned, But yes, we are. Next question is from Chelsea. Sick It W k f in Dayton. Hi, Governor. Thanks so much for taking my question. We've received 50 calls and text from our viewers and less than 24 hours about unemployment. concerns, Many frustrated They can't get through the job and family services with their questions. What should they do if they can't get through or can't get their questions answered? And now that system updates will be complete on January 31st when two people That's the money. Yeah, I don't know the answer to the last question, but what we're doing very actively now. And I'm announced. This is the last Press conference is abundantly clear. The state government cannot fix this the way I want it fixed. And so we're going out into the private sector. We've already had several meetings. Uh, we have We'll have something to announce shortly. Uh, we're gonna bring some people in from the private sector quite candidly to run the unemployment section. It is. I could make all the excuses in the world. I could stand here, but that doesn't do anybody any good. Who's not getting a check? I mean, there's reasons for this, but we got to get it fixed, and we're gonna do it. Next question is from Jesse Bomber at the Cincinnati Enquirer. Hello, Governor. Jesse. Mhm. I know we're obviously still working through this one B group um, But when will we know who is next in line? And how will your team be making those decisions? Jesse, our decisions will be made on protecting lives that that's the most important thing that we could do. We had two things that were had to be dealt with besides protecting directly protecting lives. And every time you give anybody a shot, you're protecting lives. But getting kids in school particular and protecting our health work, those should be behind us. And so as we by time we get to this next group. But I want to remind everybody that Group one B is big 2.2 million people. So it's gonna take a while toe work through to point B are to be, and that's going to take a while. But we're working on where we go next. I would just remind everybody that when you when you talk to the experts and when you look at the numbers again, the best predictor is age. So the best predictor is age, and but it's gonna take us a while to get the 65 years of age older and done. You know where everybody who wants a vaccine in that age group, eyes able to get it. And I said, It's about 2.2 million people who are in, uh, the 11 B group, and that's gonna take a while. And we're still finishing up. As you know, some, as I talked about earlier some of the Congress care settings one a local health departments doing this. They're doing a good job. But this this is a slow process because, you know, these are small kind of care settings. They're not very big, so it's not very efficient as you go after to try to vaccinate them. So that that is continuing as well. Ex question is from Kevin Landers WBNS in Columbus. Good afternoon, Governor Kevin. Our teachers, who teach 100% from home, going to get a shot at the same time. Those teachers who teach in person and if so, why? And what is your timetable on when the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will arrive in Ohio? Yeah, well, can't be soon enough. You know, my timetable is yesterday, but, you know, we're hearing maybe, maybe late February, maybe march, but I don't think anyone knows. I don't think anyone knows for sure. As's faras, the teachers e mean we have really left this up to schools. I mean the idea. You know, Kevin, the idea is to get kids back in school, obviously, to get kids back in school, you get teachers back in school. So if there's a teacher who is, you know, working from home but wants to go, you know, maybe has some, uh, medical problems, medical issues. That's why they've been working home. They've been very careful. Um, you know, there's certainly eligible to be vaccinated and to go to go back into school. But we've really relied. We can't micromanage this at the school level. We're relying on the schools to make a good faith effort in regard to who needs who needs to be vaccinated. Next question is from Merritt studies that wlwt in Cincinnati. Good afternoon, Governor. Afternoon. Good afternoon. Hey, my question is, what is you and your teams Long term plan to make it easier for people to sign up for their vaccines because right now, here in the tri state Cincinnati area, we're having people potentially wait on the phone for seven hours to get there. Vaccine. And once we add new groups like 17 up and then eventually 65 up, and so on. Especially for so many individuals who are responsible for signing up for their vaccine who may not have reliable Internet access. What is your team's plan for a better long term vaccine? Sign up. Well, for those people who can access the Internet, our goal is to we're developing, and we should have this fairly soon. Ah, way that you could go Baby will go on the Internet and one place, one portal, and you will be able then to link in in your county to places. And you will be able to register by the Internet so that that should speed things up or make life simpler. It remains a challenge askew point out for people who can't navigate the Internet. And you know what we're seeing is, uh, some doctors offices are literally calling people. Um, we're having some hospitals are doing that. Health departments are doing that, but we're gonna We're constantly looking at this and talking with our local health department partners about what else we can do to reach the earlier question is you heard people who you know may live remotely in the county. Uh, people who by themselves there, 90 years of age, um, people who can navigate a phone. But, you know, they could take a call, but they, you know, don't want to navigate the Internet. So it look, it's a work in progress. It's not perfect. But we're working with our local partners to continue to focus on that. We understand it's a problem. And look, we're not gonna be satisfied until we get every person you know over the age of 65 who wants to be vaccinators 65 older, who wants to be vaccinated. And we know that this is, uh, imperative. There's a moral imperative that we get this done. Next question is from Jim Adia. W h I O in Dayton. Hey, Jim. Governor, could you Governor, could you talk about the timing of supply you mentioned earlier? The president's announcement that we're going to have quite additional supply of the vaccine at some point in the future? But when might that arrive in Ohio? Realistically speaking. And how does that influence your planning here when you start to expand eligibility? Well, Jim, we can't get the vaccine soon enough as we've made playing to the Biden administration, we could do a lot of things, Ohio. But what we can't do is, you know, way can't grow these vaccines. And so we're depending on the federal government and the and the drug companies. Pharmaceutical companies to, uh, step up the production of the vaccine. So I think every governors in the same boat, you know, this is what we're all looking for. We're looking form or vaccine as we get more vaccine. You know, if we had a ton more vaccine tomorrow, we just put it right out. We have 750 locations in Ohio. That air now giving out vaccine. We we have a total of 2200 already signed up. Who said we will give out vaccine if if you have it for us. We also at that point would go to some sites around the state that would be drive through, uh, some sites that would be more mass vaccinating. We've hesitated to do that and have not done that. Really? Because we wanna make sure that whatever county you live in, whether you're and Mercer County or in Vinton County, Brown county wherever you live that you've got in your county locations, where there is vaccine. And so we've We've resisted going to this big mass sites, but we're ready to ramp up. We will not have a problem dealing with more vaccine. Our problem is not enough vaccine. Next question is from Scott Allison, the Senior Daily Gazette. Hey, Governor, how are you, Scott? Um, excuse me or forgive me, I guess if this question has already been asked previously, But, um, do the pharmacies that air giving the vaccination Do they have the knowledge to overcome any negative reactions Or they trained on what to do with an anaphylactic situation Occurs? Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna let Bruce You won't take that. Yes, absolutely. Um, the ability to respond to an an if lactic reaction after a vaccine is not at all unique to these vaccines. You know, clearly it's an important capability with these vaccines, but, uh, administrating sites and our pharmacies around the state provide ah, large number of vaccines always have to be prepared with any vaccine administration for the potential of banana flagstick reaction. Eso The short answer is yes. They should be well prepared. to administer the necessary medications and call for the necessary health. Next question is from Randy Ludlow at the Columbus Dispatch. Randi. Good afternoon, Governor. Um, next Monday you're scheduled. Thio, roll out your proposed by any old budget. Uh, the hit on the state tax take from the virus has not been a bad as anticipated. Uh, walking on islands. Expect to see on Monday as far as your budget rollout and the commitment, it's reflecting your suggested allocation of state dollars. Well, a quick preview emphasis on the quick, I guess. Randy, you know, our budget is going to be similar in many respects to our first budget in that we're investing in Ohio ones. We're investing in our young people. We have more focused on early childhood education, early childhood development, um, focusing on mental health, three addiction problem. We really look at this is our year of recovery. And so we've got. Although the economy is doing okay, we know we've got toe crank this up and it will be a budget. I think that will help Ohio moved to being the premier place in the Midwest for job creation. The best place in the Midwest toe live. We're already seeing people move into Ohio. Uh, kind of interesting statistics out of the last few days have been in the paper, but it's gonna be a forward, very forward looking budget investing in our people. Governor, Next question is the last question for today, and it belongs to James Pilch er from Wkrc in Cincinnati. Good afternoon, Governor. How are you today? I'm well okay, quick question my two questions. First hold on a second. Why was Hamilton County the only county? I mean, I'm sorry, Cincinnati. Why was Cincinnati Public Schools the only school A system in Hamilton County included on the first list? And why was kinda Hoga County get no schools on that first list for vaccinations for teachers? And my second question, you mentioned the budget. Why will it include any possible increases in unemployment taxes? Given the added burden, given the current situation with the economy. Thank you. No to the second as's faras The Why Cincinnati. Look, we have to start somewhere. I got a call, frankly, from the superintendent, uh, in Cincinnati, who said I gotta get my kids back in our whole purpose in doing this and vaccinating um, schools personality to get kids in school. Eso Cincinnati is gonna actually roll out over a period of, I think, three weeks. So, uh, they started on Thursday, Uh, k through three. The idea is to get k through three back in quickly, and then their plan is to move beyond that. So the vaccinations that we agreed to our I believe over the next over the next three weeks. And if you look at just to kind of summarize if you look at what How we're setting up vaccinations in schools, comes back to I can't vaccinate everybody, Every educator in Ohio in one week, somebody's gotta be first. Somebody's gotta be last. Um, and it's it's the things that I talked about a while ago, this news conference. It's a scheduling question. We want to do it efficiently. We want to do it quickly. We want to try to do all county at one time. So what you'll find is that most counties will get vaccinated all the schools in that county within a one week period. Some it's going take two weeks. So we're trying to keep it simple for people, and we're gonna try to take the vaccination as close as we can to people. But there's always gonna be I've got emails from how come you let somebody go first? How come you let you know you let somebody else go and, uh you know, look, if you if you if you look at the first week or two, you find ah, lot of schools in Hamilton County. So, uh, since I schools got, you know, a two or three day jump and that we were able to do it washing our original plan, we were able to do it. And again, we gotta keep an eye on the ball. And by keeping eye on the ball, our goal is to get kids in school get kids back in school. That's what that's It's a simple as that. Well, thank everybody will look forward toa to seeing you next week, and we'll be back here on on Tuesday. Thank you very much. Mhm.

Coronavirus latest: 922,143 cases in Ohio; 378,793 in Kentucky; 640,744 in Indiana

Updated: 11:54 PM EST Feb 8, 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, 922,143 cases, 11,695 deaths | Kentucky 378,793 cases, 4,091 deaths | Indiana, 640,744 cases, 11,459 deathsEducational resources: CLICK HERE to access online learning resourcesCORONAVIRUS IN OHIOThousands of Ohioans have expressed their frustration with Ohio's COVID-19 vaccine system. WLWT has heard many stories and received numerous calls of people who are having a hard time getting signed up and are having to call or go online to multiple providers, oftentimes leaving empty-handed and unable to find availability.Right now as it stands on the Ohio Department of Health's COVID-19 vaccine location website, a full list of vaccine providers is listed, however Ohioans have to call or visit each website individually to see if there's availability.WLWT went straight to the source Thursday and questioned Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine about the state's current system of signing up for the coronavirus vaccine.WLWT's Steven Albritton asked the governor: "We're still without any state clearinghouse for vaccine sign-ups. We keep hearing here at WLWT of people who are bouncing between website to website trying to get a vaccine appointment. Are there redesigns coming? Is there a firm timeline for fixing this? What help or hope can you offer for thousands of people who are still struggling to get through the current system that we're working with?" DeWine replied that a lot of frustrations and issues with getting a vaccine appointment would be solved by having more vaccine available, which he said is coming.The governor did say, however, that he hopes getting Ohioans signed up for the COVID-19 vaccine will soon get much easier. DeWine said Valentine's Day is the target day to ease the stress that comes with looking for a COVID-19 vaccine.DeWine said around Valentine's Day, state health officials will roll out a statewide web portal that will have all providers in one place and you'll be able to connect with them directly from there. In the next few days, vaccine providers will receive a notice to sign up for the new system."What we would hope is a seamless experience where someone can go online, put in their ZIP code, put in their county. It would come up with the places that have been incorporated in that system and it would tell you which ones have vaccine available for the week," DeWine said.Ohioans would then be able to go directly into that link and make an appointment from there.However, this change still does not solve the problem of those who don't have computer access, but DeWine said they are working at the local level to get more places where people can call.DeWine noted there's a lot more people in Ohio that want the COVID-19 vaccine than there is actual supply of the vaccine. He said he talked with Pfizer and the company told him it will be able to up the amount of vaccine that's available for federal shipment by about 40% in Mid-February. Pfizer said at some point in March, it hopes to double the number of vaccines that are available compared to today's availability.Ohio will open vaccine eligibility next week for Ohioans who are 65 and older. DeWine said Ohio will remain in the 65+ stage for several weeks as there's a large number of people in that category.As of Thursday, Ohio has had 910,847 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 11,509 deaths since the pandemic began.CORONAVIRUS IN KENTUCKY Kentucky reported its lowest daily number of new COVID-19 cases since the day after Christmas, continuing a downward trend still marred by high death counts, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday.The governor reported 1,003 new coronavirus cases in Kentucky and 40 more virus-related deaths. The statewide rate of people testing positive for COVID-19 was 7.78%, the lowest since Nov. 10.Weekly numbers of new virus cases have declined in Kentucky for four straight weeks for the first time since the start of the pandemic, Beshear said. The statewide positivity rate also has fallen for four consecutive weeks.“We’re moving in the right direction,” the governor said at a news conference.In an update on inoculation efforts, Kentucky has received nearly 491,000 initial COVID-19 vaccine doses and more than 440,000 Kentuckians have had their first doses, Beshear said.Black Kentuckians - who represent about 8% of Kentucky's population - have received just 4.3% of vaccinations administered so far in which the person's race was known, he said.“That’s not acceptable,” the Democratic governor said. "It needs to be closer, at least, to the 8% which is the makeup of the population.”One reason for the comparatively low percentage of Blacks receiving vaccinations is their underrepresentation in some professions prioritized for inoculations -- health care, education and first responders, the governor said. That underscores a larger societal need to improve minority recruitment for those jobs, he said. Hispanics have received just slightly more than 1% of vaccines when ethnicity was known.Beshear expressed his commitment to improving those vaccination rates.“We look forward to expanding our network of partners in this effort and working to reach people who need access to this vaccine and need a little extra assistance in getting it, so they can have the same benefit as everyone else,” said Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky’s public health commissioner.The state is working on multiple fronts to deal with “vaccine hesitancy” among some minorities, Beshear said.Meanwhile, the governor credited mask wearing and adherence to social distancing for the state's recent trend of lower weekly virus cases and positivity rates.“Remember it’s fragile," he said. "We let our guard down, everything changes.”But the state's virus-related death rate remains too high, the governor said.With the 40 additional deaths announced Monday, the state's death toll rose to at least 4,091 since the pandemic began. Kentucky has reported more than 378,000 virus cases.More than 1,100 virus patients are hospitalized in Kentucky, including 274 in intensive-care units.CORONAVIRUS IN INDIANAThe Indiana Department of Health today announced Monday that 1,065 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19.That brings the number of Indiana residents now known to have had the novel coronavirus to 640,744 following corrections to the previous day’s dashboard.A total of 11,459 Hoosiers are confirmed to have died from COVID-19, an increase of 58 from the previous day. Another 416 probable deaths have been reported based on clinical diagnoses in patients for whom no positive test is on record. To date, 3,011,185 unique individuals have been tested in Indiana, up from 3,006,430 on Sunday. A total of 7,303,220 tests, including repeat tests for unique individuals, have been reported to the state Department of Health since Feb. 26, 2020.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, 922,143 cases, 11,695 deaths | Kentucky 378,793 cases, 4,091 deaths | Indiana, 640,744 cases, 11,459 deaths

Educational resources: CLICK HERE to access online learning resources

CORONAVIRUS IN OHIO

Thousands of Ohioans have expressed their frustration with Ohio's COVID-19 vaccine system. WLWT has heard many stories and received numerous calls of people who are having a hard time getting signed up and are having to call or go online to multiple providers, oftentimes leaving empty-handed and unable to find availability.

Right now as it stands on the Ohio Department of Health's COVID-19 vaccine location website, a full list of vaccine providers is listed, however Ohioans have to call or visit each website individually to see if there's availability.

WLWT went straight to the source Thursday and questioned Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine about the state's current system of signing up for the coronavirus vaccine.

WLWT's Steven Albritton asked the governor: "We're still without any state clearinghouse for vaccine sign-ups. We keep hearing here at WLWT of people who are bouncing between website to website trying to get a vaccine appointment. Are there redesigns coming? Is there a firm timeline for fixing this? What help or hope can you offer for thousands of people who are still struggling to get through the current system that we're working with?"

DeWine replied that a lot of frustrations and issues with getting a vaccine appointment would be solved by having more vaccine available, which he said is coming.

The governor did say, however, that he hopes getting Ohioans signed up for the COVID-19 vaccine will soon get much easier. DeWine said Valentine's Day is the target day to ease the stress that comes with looking for a COVID-19 vaccine.

DeWine said around Valentine's Day, state health officials will roll out a statewide web portal that will have all providers in one place and you'll be able to connect with them directly from there. In the next few days, vaccine providers will receive a notice to sign up for the new system.

"What we would hope is a seamless experience where someone can go online, put in their ZIP code, put in their county. It would come up with the places that have been incorporated in that system and it would tell you which ones have vaccine available for the week," DeWine said.

Ohioans would then be able to go directly into that link and make an appointment from there.

However, this change still does not solve the problem of those who don't have computer access, but DeWine said they are working at the local level to get more places where people can call.

DeWine noted there's a lot more people in Ohio that want the COVID-19 vaccine than there is actual supply of the vaccine. He said he talked with Pfizer and the company told him it will be able to up the amount of vaccine that's available for federal shipment by about 40% in Mid-February. Pfizer said at some point in March, it hopes to double the number of vaccines that are available compared to today's availability.

Ohio will open vaccine eligibility next week for Ohioans who are 65 and older. DeWine said Ohio will remain in the 65+ stage for several weeks as there's a large number of people in that category.

As of Thursday, Ohio has had 910,847 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 11,509 deaths since the pandemic began.

CORONAVIRUS IN KENTUCKY

Kentucky reported its lowest daily number of new COVID-19 cases since the day after Christmas, continuing a downward trend still marred by high death counts, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday.

The governor reported 1,003 new coronavirus cases in Kentucky and 40 more virus-related deaths. The statewide rate of people testing positive for COVID-19 was 7.78%, the lowest since Nov. 10.

Weekly numbers of new virus cases have declined in Kentucky for four straight weeks for the first time since the start of the pandemic, Beshear said. The statewide positivity rate also has fallen for four consecutive weeks.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” the governor said at a news conference.

In an update on inoculation efforts, Kentucky has received nearly 491,000 initial COVID-19 vaccine doses and more than 440,000 Kentuckians have had their first doses, Beshear said.

Black Kentuckians - who represent about 8% of Kentucky's population - have received just 4.3% of vaccinations administered so far in which the person's race was known, he said.

“That’s not acceptable,” the Democratic governor said. "It needs to be closer, at least, to the 8% which is the makeup of the population.”

One reason for the comparatively low percentage of Blacks receiving vaccinations is their underrepresentation in some professions prioritized for inoculations -- health care, education and first responders, the governor said. That underscores a larger societal need to improve minority recruitment for those jobs, he said.

Hispanics have received just slightly more than 1% of vaccines when ethnicity was known.

Beshear expressed his commitment to improving those vaccination rates.

“We look forward to expanding our network of partners in this effort and working to reach people who need access to this vaccine and need a little extra assistance in getting it, so they can have the same benefit as everyone else,” said Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky’s public health commissioner.

The state is working on multiple fronts to deal with “vaccine hesitancy” among some minorities, Beshear said.

Meanwhile, the governor credited mask wearing and adherence to social distancing for the state's recent trend of lower weekly virus cases and positivity rates.

“Remember it’s fragile," he said. "We let our guard down, everything changes.”

But the state's virus-related death rate remains too high, the governor said.

With the 40 additional deaths announced Monday, the state's death toll rose to at least 4,091 since the pandemic began. Kentucky has reported more than 378,000 virus cases.

More than 1,100 virus patients are hospitalized in Kentucky, including 274 in intensive-care units.

CORONAVIRUS IN INDIANA

The Indiana Department of Health today announced Monday that 1,065 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

That brings the number of Indiana residents now known to have had the novel coronavirus to 640,744 following corrections to the previous day’s dashboard.

A total of 11,459 Hoosiers are confirmed to have died from COVID-19, an increase of 58 from the previous day. Another 416 probable deaths have been reported based on clinical diagnoses in patients for whom no positive test is on record.

To date, 3,011,185 unique individuals have been tested in Indiana, up from 3,006,430 on Sunday. A total of 7,303,220 tests, including repeat tests for unique individuals, have been reported to the state Department of Health since Feb. 26, 2020.

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