COVID-19 Alert - May 7, 2020
By the Numbers:
175,060 individuals tested
22,131 total cases, 3,482 of which are health care workers
1,271 deaths
4,140 hospitalizations, 1,116 of which are in the intensive care unit
88 counties with at least one case
Ages range from less than one year old to 106 years of age, with a median age of 51
State of Ohio COVID-19 dashboard: https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/home/dashboard
Re-Cap of Business Openings:
Governor DeWine reminded us of the previously announced business re-openings, including:
May 1: Hospitals and other healthcare entities
May 4: General offices and manufactures and distributors
May 12: Retail
Personal Services to Resume on May 15:
Debbie Penzone, President and CEO of Charles Penzone Salons, chaired the Governor’s work group advising on best practices for re-opening hair salons, barbershops, day spas, nail salons, and tanning facilities.
Ms. Penzone participated via video conference and described what customers and employees in these personal services areas can expect to see:
Customers may be asked to wait in their car for their appointment
Social distancing markings on the floor
No magazines, self-serve drinks or product testings
Service providers will wear a face covering
Businesses may require customers to also wear masks
Cleaning and sanitation above and beyond normal requirements
See attached Protocols for Hair Salons, Day Spas, Nail Salons, Barbershops & Tanning Facilities.
Restaurants + Bars Re-Open on May 15 and May 21:
Governor DeWine announced that restaurants and bars will open for outdoor dining on May 15 and in-dining on May 21.
Treva Weaver, of Wasserstorm & Zoup! Eatery, chaired the working group charged with identifying best practices for re-opening restaurants and bars. She detailed what customers and employees may expect:
Floor plans with table spacing that meets social distancing requirements and restrictions on the number of occupants
Social distancing may be accomplished by high booths or using plexiglass to separate customers
Customers may be asked to wait in their car until their table is ready
No buffets or salad bars
Employees will wear masks, unless an exception is met, and customers may be asked to wear a mask
Employees will wear gloves in accordance with existing health guidelines which do not apply to servers or cashiers
Ms. Weaver also explained that, while open congregate space, such as dance floors, will remain closed during this time, restaurants and bars can repurpose the space for tables or other purposes.
She also explained that the advisory group did not differentiate between restaurants and bars. Both businesses must keep physical space and meet the social distancing guidelines.
See attached Protocols for Restaurants and Bars. Also see attached COVID-19 Restaurant & Food Establishment Best Practices.
Businesses that Remain Closed:
Governor DeWine announced that he will talk more about re-opening daycares on Monday, May 11. He explained that the challenge is how to reduce the chances of spread, especially among young kids, without it being financially prohibitive for childcare providers.
As for kid’s summer activities, Governor DeWine asked Ohio Mayors to come up with ideas to balance safety but also letting kids be kids.
He also reminded us that state parks are open, and information about opening campgrounds will be released in the next few days.
New Industry Advisory Groups Announced:
Governor DeWine created two new industry advisory groups:
Casinos & Racinos Advisory Group, charged with developing best practices for re-opening casinos and racinos, which will be chaired by Dan Reinhard of JACK Entertainment.
Travel & Tourism Advisory Group, charged with re-opening Ohio’s tourist attractions, which will be chaired by Julie Calvert of Cincinnati USA.
More Business Updates from Lt. Governor:
Lt. Governor Jon Husted said, according to JobsOhio, 92.5 % of the economy will be open in May. All open businesses will be held to stricter health requirements than they did a few weeks ago, which businesses embrace because they know they need to keep employees and customers safe.
He noted that the personal care industry and restaurants asked that the state make sure the health and safety protocols are strictly enforced, and violators are reprimanded, so that one bad apple does not ruin the whole bunch.
He also mentioned that massage services, which are governed by the Medical Board, will receive separate re-opening guidance at a later date
Ohio’s Unemployment Numbers:
For the week ending May 2, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported 61,083 initial unemployment claims were filed. The total number of initial jobless claims filed in Ohio over the last seven weeks is 1,118,569, which is 1,112 more than the combined total of 1,117,457 for the last three years.
Dr. Amy Acton Updates:
Dr. Acton explained that the big risk facing us today continues to be the spread of COVID-19.
She detailed the rapid public health action plan to “box it in”, a concept meaning we need to:
Find flare ups right away with testing;
Isolate infected people;
Contact trace to find those who were in contact with the infected person; and,
Quarantine all contacts for 14 days.
Ohio is also using “bootstraps” in epidemiology with new data sets and modeling to find and stop the virus.
Dr. Acton said we will start talking about a new number; the R0 or “R-naught” which calculates the spread of the virus. Ohio had an R0 of 2.3, but it is now down to 1.1 (meaning one person with the virus gives it to one person).
A new Adaptive Response Chart was revealed, demonstrating how we are doing in Ohio and where we are going in the future. The chart shows that we flattened the curve but we should expect to have some bumps in the journey. In order to keep the bump low, Dr. Acton said Ohio will continue teaching and testing, managing the cases, enacting new public policies, and, eventually, administer a vaccine.