COVID-19 Update: Prison Update April 15, 2020 (COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Governor DeWine announced today that he is approving the early release of 105 prison inmates in Ohio who had been scheduled to be released in the next 90 days. Last week, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) Director Annette Chambers-Smith recommended to the Correctional Institution [...]
COVID-19 Update: Testing Partnership April 15, 2020 (COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Health systems worldwide have struggled due to a critical shortage of test kit components, including the swabs used to collect samples and the sterile solution needed to transport the swabs, called viral transport media (VTM). Governor DeWine announced that a team of Ohio State University researchers [...]
COVID-19 Update:First Responder PPE April 15, 2020 (COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Ohio Governor Mike DeWine today announced the expansion of Ohio’s partnership with Battelle to extend their sterilization services to law enforcement agencies and EMS providers. The Ohio Department of Public Safety and Battelle have now partnered to sterilize N-95 masks for all of Ohio’s first [...]
COVID-19 Update: CARES Act Payments April 15, 2020 (COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Lt. Governor Husted announced that by the end of next week, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) will be able to begin processing the additional $600-a-week payments authorized by the federal CARES Act. ODJFS also plans to launch an online tool [...]
COVID-19 Update:Deferred Elective Procedures April 15, 2020 (COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Governor DeWine announced today that he has asked the Ohio Hospital Association to begin developing a plan to begin treating patients whose non-COVID-19 elective procedures were delayed or deferred due to the ongoing pandemic. The Ohio Department of Health previously ordered that elective surgeries be [...]
COVID-19 Update:Essential Job Openings April 14, 2020 (COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Lt. Governor Jon Husted announced that 667 critical employers have listed around 41,000 essential job openings on coronavirus.ohio.gov/jobsearch. “These employers have created safe environments for their employees,” said Lt. Governor Husted. “These employers need you if you can answer the call.” Examples of companies that [...]
COVID-19 Update:First Responder Safety April 14, 2020 (COLUMBUS, Ohio)—To protect our first responders and to ensure consistency across the state, Dr. Amy Acton announced that a new order has been issued that requires local health departments to provide to their jurisdictions’ dispatch agency or agencies the names and addresses of COVID-19-positive individuals. Dispatch [...]
COVID-19 Update: Medicaid Waiver Application April 14, 2020 (COLUMBUS, Ohio)—In addition to previous emergency measures taken by the Ohio Department of Medicaid to help increase access to healthcare for millions of Ohioans, Governor DeWine announced today that his administration is submitting its first waiver application to the federal government, known as 1135 or Appendix K, [...]
COVID-19 Update: Prison Update April 13, 2020 (COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Governor DeWine has authorized members of the Ohio National Guard to support Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) medical staff at the Pickaway Correctional Institution. The prison currently has more than a dozen members of its medical team out sick due to COVID-19. Among [...]
COVID-19 Update:Rapid Testing April 13, 2020 (COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Governor DeWine cautioned companies in Ohio that are purchasing rapid antibody tests to ensure that they are purchasing tests that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Antibody testing is one piece to the puzzle on determining when employees can return to work, but [...]
