COVID-19 Update: Record-Breaking Hospitalizations, $1.3 Billion for Ohio Businesses, Spread from Social Gatherings

October 20, 2020 Dan Ramey

(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted today provided the following updates on Ohio’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

RECORD-BREAKING HOSPITALIZATIONS

Governor DeWine announced today that hospitals across Ohio are currently treating 1,221 COVID-19 patients which is the most hospitalized patients at one time since the start of the pandemic. A total of 216 of these hospitalizations were reported in the past 24 hours which is the highest number of hospitalizations reported in a single day and more than 50 hospitalizations more than the previous high in mid-July.

Ohio is also recording an increase in ICU admissions and ventilator utilization.

“So far, Ohio’s hospitals still have adequate remaining capacity to care for everyone who is sick, but our hospitalizations are already breaking records, and we are not seeing any signs of Ohio’s case numbers slowing down,” said Governor DeWine. “If we don’t buckle down, wear our masks, and take care of each other, I am very concerned that our hospitals will begin to fill up. We pushed this virus down before, and it’s up to all of us to do it again.”

Ohio also reported 2,015 new COVID-19 cases since yesterday. Sixty-nine of Ohio’s 88 counties have a high incidence of COVID-19 spread, meaning their rate of cases is more than 100 cases per 100,000 population in the past two weeks.

SOCIAL GATHERINGS

The White House Coronavirus Task Force strongly recommends that Ohioans limit gatherings with family and friends to prevent the virus from spreading to those most at risk of complications. The recommendation follows the increase in community spread in Ohio initiated by small social gatherings.

“It’s the same thing I’m hearing when I speak with county health commissioners. They are seeing the most spread in Ohio from informal gatherings,” said Governor DeWine. “We can’t let our guard down; we must keep our masks on.”

Governor DeWine also urged caution for sports fans who gather this weekend to watch the Ohio State, Browns, and Bengals football games.

$1.3 BILLION GOING TO OHIO BUSINESSES

Dividend checks from the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation will be mailed to employers beginning this week. The dividend amount totals approximately $1.3 billion.

The money is being given back to employers in response to Governor DeWine’s request in August that the Ohio BWC Board of Directors approve a second dividend to provide financial support for public and private employers impacted by the ongoing pandemic.

These checks will be mailed to employers throughout the end of October.

A wide-ranging program to address the needs of struggling Ohioans, including funding for rent, mortgages, and water and sewer utility bills, as well as funding for small businesses and nonprofits, will be announced in the near future.

OHSAA UPDATE

Lt. Governor Jon Husted provided an update from the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) on the status of high school fall sports.

OHSAA Observers have attended 458 sites, including 600 football games, at least 50 volleyball matches, and at least 50 soccer matches over the course of eight weeks.

The OHSAA provides reports to the schools following the competitions to serve as an educational opportunity for the school to improve.

LONG-TERM CARE FACILITY DASHBOARD

Ohio’s new long-term care facility dashboard is now available at coronavirus.ohio.gov. The new dashboard outlines visitation information at nursing facilities across the state. Those with loved ones in a nursing facility can search for information by county or facility to find information on the types of visits that are offered and when they are permitted. Nursing facilities were permitted to allow indoor visitations beginning October 12.

Details regarding the visitation guidelines for Ohio’s intermediate care facilities can be found in a public health order issued on September 24. Visitation at intermediate care facilities was permitted to resume on September 28.

VACCINE PROVIDER REGISTRATION

Governor DeWine announced that Ohio has submitted its Interim Draft COVID-19 Vaccine Plan to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The plan is a framework on how Ohio will proceed once a vaccine is available. The plan will be available tomorrow at coronavirus.ohio.gov.

The Ohio Department of Health will also be launching a new registration tool for health care providers who would like to eventually administer the COVID-19 vaccine. Providers, such as local health departments, hospitals, pharmacies, and nursing facilities, will be notified soon with instructions about how they can register.

TEST RESULT REPORTING

The Ohio Department of Health has developed a technology solution to allow their systems to track negative test results. In response, Interim Director of Health Lance Himes today amended a directive that now requires all labs to start sharing all positive, negative, inconclusive, and invalid test results related to COVID-19 tests with the Ohio Department of Health.

Previously, labs were reporting positive COVID-19 results at the individual level and as an aggregate count for all other test results.

“Adding these categories will allow us to gather additional data for a more complete picture of how COVID is spreading in our communities,” said Governor DeWine. This will also allow us to provide positivity data by county in the coming weeks.”

FLU SHOTS
Governor DeWine once again urged Ohio citizens to get their flu shots this year. A person can become infected with both the flu virus and coronavirus at the same time.

If you become ill this season, many healthcare providers will test for both flu and COVID-19 to get a proper diagnosis. While the symptoms can be similar, COVID-19 is more serious, its symptoms last longer, those hospitalized tend to have longer hospital stays, and the virus has a higher mortality rate.

CURRENT COVID-19 DATA

There are 185,639 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Ohio and 5,083 confirmed and probable COVID-19 deaths. A total of 17,388 people have been hospitalized, including 3,597 admissions to intensive care units. In-depth data can be accessed by visiting coronavirus.ohio.gov.

Video of today’s full update, including versions with foreign language translation, 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.

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Adena’s New Family Viewing Area Encourages Safe Baby Introductions

October 20, 2020 Dan Ramey

Presented by McDonald’s, I’m Lovin’ It

Nobody wants to see Grandpa Joe climbing a ladder or Aunt Helen perched atop a wobbly chair outside the windows of Adena Regional Medical Center’s Women & Children’s Center trying to get a glimpse of the latest addition to their family.

A version of those scenarios is what has played out, however, outside the windows of patient rooms where mothers have been bonding with their newborns since precautionary visitor restrictions were imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to Coronavirus, an expectant mother could have up to five visitors at a time while in labor and delivery and an unlimited number of visitors once moved into the mother/infant rooms after giving birth. Once the virus became a factor, expectant mothers were permitted one support person – a spouse, significant other or another family member, for instance – during labor and delivery and for the remainder of their hospital stay for safety measures.

The change in protocols produced a considerable and concerning change in the behavior of some families.

“We were seeing that families were attempting to view babies through the (patient room) windows in maybe not the safest manner because the windows on the outside aren’t level with what’s on the inside – so they would have a chair or a ladder or some other type of item that they would just have in their car and they were trying to stand on it and look in the window,” said Tasha Turner, nurse manager of pediatrics and the nursery. “We were really concerned someone was going to get hurt. (It was happening) almost every day.”

While safety was a critical part of the problem, it wasn’t the only concern.

“They were usually trying to look into a patient room, which also could lead to its own issues if they went to the wrong window and looked in on somebody else’s family, and we definitely don’t want those kind of things either,” Turner said.

The challenge was to find a way for families to safely view their newest loved one without having to enter the ward to do so.

“We discussed how we can allow families to see the new baby because we know that’s important to families, so we started thinking about is there any area that is easily accessible?” Turner explained. “Because of infant safety, there just aren’t a whole lot of places where it’s safe for somebody to view a baby. We have some doors, but if you get a baby too close to one of our doors, it will set off our alarms because that’s how we keep them safe so somebody’s not taking a baby.

“So we really just walked around our unit and thought where’s a good place where you could look at a baby and then we found this one area out in Mother/Infant — it’s a large window facing out toward the parking lot, and we thought if we could do something to make the outside area (leveled) up to the inside area, then we would easily be able to have the family look in at the baby.”

The result is a newly constructed wooden ramp leading to a platform outside that window just off the northeast corner of the hospital. With signage and guidelines posted, families are able to schedule a time to stand on the platform and look at the new baby resting in a crib by the window. Times will be arranged between the new mothers and their family members, then ward staff will be informed when times are confirmed.

“We want to make sure, especially at the beginning, that we’re keeping an eye on that area to make sure they’re doing it in a safe manner,” Turner said. “We don’t want moms picking up the baby to show them because we’re a little bit worried about babies being dropped. We made the viewing area in a manner that somebody can come up to the window and see the baby in a crib, they don’t have to pick the baby up out of there.”

Keeping ward staff in the loop on scheduled times also will help prevent a backlog of families from congregating outside the viewing area during periods in which the ward is handling a large number of births. When multiple families are awaiting a turn on the platform, social distancing will be observed between families and a time limit of 15 minutes at the window will be in place.

With the platform now in use, security will be asked to monitor activity around it “just so they can check and make sure people are using it safely and that people are not going back to the old ways because we have this new way for them to do it that’s safe for everyone,” Turner said.

The platform is the latest example of the type of out-of-the-box thinking about patient-centered care – in this case going beyond patients themselves to include their extended families – that helped earn Adena a spot this summer on Newsweek’s 2020 list of Best Maternity Care Hospitals. Only 231 hospitals across 36 states were selected to receive the honor.

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“Holler” Screening at The Majestic in December

October 20, 2020 Dan Ramey

Presented by Hometown-Motors, Inc.

CHILLICOTHE, OH – The Majestic Theatre will be hosting a fundraiser on December 19 and December 20, 2020 to assist in recovery efforts from the COVID-19 pandemic. The fundraiser will be a special two-day, limited seating preview of the film HOLLER that was filmed in Jackson, Ohio and Chillicothe, Ohio during the winter of 2019.

Recently the Majestic Theatre announced the suspension of its live programming due to the pandemic and restrictions set in place. This fundraiser will allow the Majestic to screen the film to a limited audience of 72 patrons for each of its four showings, which follows capacity restrictions put in place by the State of Ohio.

HOLLER is set in a forgotten pocket of Southern Ohio, where American manufacturing and opportunity are drying up. A determined young woman finds a ticket out when she is accepted to college. Alongside her older brother, Ruth Avery joins a dangerous scrap metal crew in order to pay her way. Together, they spend one brutal winter working the scrap yards during the day and stealing valuable metal from the once thriving factories by night. With her goal in sight, Ruth finds that the ultimate cost of an education for a girl like her may be more than she bargained for, and she soon finds herself torn between a promising future and the family she would leave behind.

Nicole Riegel, writer and director of HOLLER states, “My film is a semi-autobiographical story about how challenging it was to transcend where I came from as a young woman, both practically and emotionally. Like Ruth, the teenage girl at the center of my story, and many young girls across America, I was vulnerable to a fractured system that felt rigged against me, particularly when it came to access to education for young people living the margins. HOLLER is not only a glimpse into that part of my life, but also a window into the lives of thousands of girls who, like Ruth, live in towns that are currently in a state of atrophy from fewer opportunities and a drinking population. They are faced with the choice of forced reinvention or abandoning their hometowns completely.”

Tickets will be priced at $20.00 and will go on sale beginning on October 19, 2020. Tickets will be available through the theatre’s website and at the Ross-Chillicothe Convention & Visitors Bureau.

In addition to ticket sales, the Majestic Theatre is hoping to raise funds from community partners to achieve a $10,000 fundraising goal from the special showing of HOLLER. The proceeds from fundraising efforts will be used to sustain the Majestic Theatre during this period where restrictions prevent productions to take place.

For more information about HOLLER, ticket sales, and the Majestic Theatre, please visit www.MajesticChillicothe.net.