Ohio schools to remain closed through end of April

DGKN staff report

Schools will remain closed through the end of April, Gov. Mike DeWine announced today.

The Ohio Department of Health will extend its order to keep schools closed through May 1. The previous order was set to expire April 3.

“There is the real possibility that our schools could stay closed longer than this, but we want to give parents and teachers as much notice and flexibility as we can,” DeWine said in the news release at www.governor.ohio.gov. “Schools should continue to do what they’re doing now — providing the best remote learning that they can, serving meals to students in new ways, and planning for what the rest of the year may look like.”

In other announcements:

• DeWine also has formed a “Homelessness Team” to help people who may rely on homeless shelters, domestic shelters, group homes, and recovery housing – all of which pose challenges for social distancing. The Coalition on Housing and Homelessness in Ohio, the Ohio Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and Ohio Recovery Housing are working as part of this team to provide localized guidelines for these shelters. They will also work to incorporate these populations into the state’s ongoing planning for access to healthcare through community health centers and planning for quarantine or isolation.
• A business advisory group will be developed to convene over the phone to: ensure businesses are doing everything they can to keep their employees safe; provide recommendations (to the greatest extent possible) to mitigate the negative impact the COVID-19 crisis is having on our economy in Ohio; provide recommendations on building a platform for economic recovery.
• Due to the shortage of PPE in Ohio, the inmates incarcerated at Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction prisons have begun making some of these necessary healthcare supplies. So far, inmates have made 500 hospital gowns and will make 44,000 more when they get additional fabric.  Inmates will also begin making cough masks – similar to surgical masks — and will be able to make 5,000 a day up to a total of 2 million. They will also make hand sanitizer. and face shields. Each prison with its own workshop will also make masks for the people in those prisons.

As of Monday, there were 1,933 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ohio and 39 deaths. A total of 475 people have been hospitalized, including 163 admissions to intensive care units. In-depth data can be accessed by visiting coronavirus.ohio.gov.

Video of Monday’s full update, including versions with foreign language closed captioning, can be viewed on the Ohio Channel’s YouTube page. For more information on Ohio’s response to COVID-19, visit coronavirus.ohio.gov or call 1-833-4-ASK-ODH.

Wayne County Health Commissioner Nicholas Cascarelli has written a letter to all Wayne County residents available at www.wayne‐health.org and www.wcjic.org.

The content of the letter was a thank you to those who have complied with the ODH Director Amy Acton’s Stay at Home Order issued March 22, according to a news release from the Wayne County Health Department. The letter also asks residents and
businesses who are not complying with the order to rethink that decision.

“We can go through the legal process to ensure people are accountable for their inaction, but wouldn’t it be a better, safer and healthier Wayne County if we didn’t have to go that route, ” Cascarelli states in the news release.