Updated: 4:52 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020
The coronavirus continues to spread into Ohio鈥檚 rural areas, as the state prepares to send out a new round of federal relief to people who have lost jobs during the pandemic, Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday in a wide-ranging news conference on COVID-19.
The governor hopes to begin sending out beginning in mid-to-late September, he said. DeWine spoke Monday with U.S. Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia about the assistance.
鈥淚鈥檝e made it clear to my team, we need to get this out just as absolutely quickly as we can,鈥� DeWine said. 鈥淧eople are hurting. People need it.鈥�
Though Lt. Gov. Jon Husted noted Ohio鈥檚 economy is slowly improving, with unemployment down to 8.9 percent from a pandemic peak of 17 percent.
鈥淲e鈥檙e on the road to recovery, economically speaking,鈥� Husted said.
Darke, Mercer and Jackson counties recorded the highest new COVID-19 case load per 100,000 residents, . All three counties have populations around 50,000 or less, and the numbers of new cases over the past two weeks are in the double digits.
Statewide, Ohio is approaching what DeWine called a 鈥済rim statistic鈥� of 4,000 confirmed or probable COVID-19 deaths. Ohio reported 844 new COVID-19 cases, continuing a general decrease in daily new cases since a high of 1,733 on July 30. More than 2 million coronavirus tests have been administered across the state since the pandemic began.
DeWine spoke with two county health officials during the press conference, including Medina County Health Commissioner Krista Wasowski. She urged Ohioans to stay home while awaiting COVID-19 test results.
鈥淪ome of our young adults, in particular, are having mild symptoms,鈥� Wasowski said. 鈥淚t seems like a cold to them, and so they think it鈥檚 okay to maybe go to sporting events, or to work, or to other social gatherings. And then, once their tests are coming back, sometimes they鈥檙e surprised that they have COVID and that they鈥檝e infected other people.鈥�
Health officials are seeing more cases in the northern part of Medina County, closer to the Cleveland metropolitan area, she said.
DeWine also walked through , particularly school and youth sports. The goal of the order is to limit spectators to family members of home and away players or band members, he said.
Spectators at outdoor sports are limited to 1,500 or 15 percent of the venue鈥檚 permanent seated capacity, whichever is lower, he said. Indoor sports are limited to the lesser of 300 people or 15 percent of seated capacity.
Athletic event organizers can ask local and state health departments to approve spectator plans that vary from state guidelines, he said. Spectators must wear masks and stay physically distant, according to the order.
Early in the news conference, DeWine broke from COVID-19 reports to highlight recent headlines about gun violence across Ohio. He called on lawmakers to pass his , which state Sen. Matt Dolan (R-Chagrin Falls) introduced last October.
DeWine on Tuesday also defended his handling of the pandemic against criticism from a small number of conservative lawmakers in his own party who are now . The state鈥檚 COVID-19 restrictions served the goal preserving lives, he said.
鈥淭he sacrifices we鈥檙e talking about now, yes, they are sacrifices,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut the long-term gain is not just we鈥檝e saved lives. The long-term gain is we don鈥檛 destroy our economy.鈥�
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