In our little corner of the world, we have definitely started the next chapter of our quarantine. Although I am still only driving to doctors' offices, the pharmacy, and now my mom's house. Yay! She has been quarantined long enough that we can see my mom and my brother. We also were able to have some "socially distanced meals" with my parents-in-law. We had a fun night out on our desk with dinner that my father-in-law made. Always my favorite meal! :) We also got together on Father's Day and then for a "luau" themed party on Friday. We are slowly finding safe ways to expand our bubble.
Looking at our numbers from last week to the beginning of this one, a total of 42,010 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus (which is up from 434 people from yesterday). Broken down, this looks like:
59 more hospitalizations
24 more deaths have been reported
2,597 have died from the virus
Not much has changed in the 21-day trend, which means that the curve is remaining flat (despite reopenings occurring}. Ohio is continuing to monitor as thoroughly as possible to make sure we do not have a massive resurgence or spike. Currently, COVID 19 remains contagious and the R naught value without social distancing originally was 1:2.5/3 throughout the state, but now Central Ohio is a .95 and Southwest Ohio is at 1.0, which is great news. Now with all the measures in place the highest R naught value in the entire state is at 1-1. There is nothing alarming about these numbers but we are continuing to watch the movement and look for trends and spikes.
Gov. DeWine continues to urge everyone to wear masks and practice social distancing as businesses in Ohio reopen. So far, efforts to increase testing in our minority communities have led to pop up testing sites cropping up throughout Ohio, which have been able to handle capacity so far. Testing in SW Ohio began today at City Link Center in Cincinnati from 10-2:00.
Coronavirus.ohio.gov will have information about all these testing sites
Ohio, along with 30 other states, have borrowed money from the federal government to pay unemployment claims and the state is working on paying down that debt over the course of many years.
Houses of worship, which have never been closed, are encouraged to use caution as they return to in-person services. Guidelines have been posted on the Ohio coronavirus website for best practices such as having families socially distance from other families. In addition, people are asked to wear face coverings and refrain from touching collection baskets or hymnals.
One group whose needs have not diminished, children who need services from multiple agencies are expected are served by the Families and Children First Council in the amount of 1.5 million dollars. Many youths and families do not have internet access and have been affected by the pandemic more than others educationally, emotionally, and physically.
These grants will allow these children to connect with desperately needed services.
People who need medical care should continue to seek it out as hospitals and individual doctors work hard to ensure that people who enter a hospital are kept safe. To that end, hospitals are now starting to open up for all medical procedures very cautiously. Both the Mayo and Cleveland Clinic are writing an op-ed encouraging people to come in and receive necessary medical care from hospital facilities. I feel very happy that Ohio has created a safe space for people to receive care.
There are many reasons that healthcare needs to be back up an running as soon as we are abe. People have become afraid to come to the hospital even for life threatening conditions that require ongoing treatment. Cancers and cardiac conditions are going untreated as people stay at home and avoid going to seek treatment for these. Apparently, many more people have died of appendicitis during this pandemic and others are avoiding getting colonoscopies and mammograms due to fear. These are essential for getting people treatment and getting people an early diagnosis which increases the chance of a cure.
Lieutenant Governor Husted covered generally the "do's" and "don'ts" of frauds and scams issuing a warning to Ohioans, especially in an older demographic. He reiterated that people are asking Ohio citizens for personal financial information through digital fraud scams and to not give information over the phone. Many previously incarcerated people are filing false unemployment claims on behalf of real people who have not actually lost their jobs (650,000,000 in fraudulent claims filed in Washington). Ohio Dept of Family Services has seen these scams as well and at least 3,000 cases have been identified in the state
Official looking notices are being sent out ostensibly from the government asking people to return money to the government and provide personal information.
The Lt. Gov. is encouraging people to report fraud and make sure that people are monitoring suspicious activity. Consider checking with a family member before taking action on any notice or phone call. Ohioprotects.org is a website people can go to in order to take action against people committing fraud.
In nursing homes, employees are being tested first and then residents are being tested at the discretion of the clinical staff. All of this is occuring with the assistance of the Ohio national guard.
Our Gov. stressed the need a police force, but they must be trained in de-escalation and implicit bias recognition. Police need to be part of a larger network of social workers in order to address problems in the community.
Calendar-wise, as far as August events are concerned, it is difficult to say where things will be at that time. DeWine said, "a football game would not be able to occur today and it might even be dangerous when August comes around." It will all depend on how we depend on each other. Some sports leagues are looking for alternative ways to use stadiums other than for their intended purpose--creative thinking at it's best!
Ohio is looking at data by region and carefully monitoring the numbers to avoid spikes like there have been in other states. Guidelines for schools will be available within the next ten days . We know what the tools to stop the spread are and the fate of this reopening rests squarely in the hands of the people of the state of Ohio. Ohio has a diverse mixture of school districts and school boards each of which has different needs for its constituents and the people involved
Lastly for today. Dr. Amy Acton will still have a major role going forward in the DeWine administration. She will be an invaluable part of the team and will be involved in making decisions going forward. A nationwide search has begun for Dr. Acton’s replacement and they are looking for someone with a similar background and experience to Dr. Acton--so Wonder Woman, if you are reading this, give us a shout!
Prepare, don't panic.
-Allison
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