As the Governor rolled out his plan to reopen Ohio Monday, the state’s health departments began rolling into education mode for the communities they serve.
Litter Media visited with Ross County Health District Administrator Ben Avery and Communications Director Kelly Dennis to learn how the new guidelines will be applied for Chillicothe-area businesses.
The main concern with getting back to work is knowing the coronavirus is still active and the potential for a spike in those contracting it.
Another concern is for the businesses closed during Ohio’s Stay-At-Home Order who may not be prepared to adjust to the new guidelines (see images below).
Governor Mike DeWine outlined his plan to slowly reopen Ohio’s economy Monday during his daily news conference.
Ohio’s Stay-At-Home Order expires at midnight the evening of May 1st, 2020.
DeWine opened his news conference applauding Ohioans collective efforts to help save lives and slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. “We are where we are … because of what you have done.” The Governor reiterated the “virus is still here… it’s still just as dangerous as it ever was.”
DeWine emphasized the need to continue to wash hands, practice physical distancing, cleaning surfaces and wearing masks. “The tools we have had to slow it down, to break it from going from one to another…
these are things we’re going to need to do as we open our economy. If we do it right, we can provide as much protection we can to our workers… everyone involved.”
He then laid out the plan for health care to begin May 1st, all health procedures that can be done that do not require an overnight hospital stay. May 4th manufacturing, distribution and construction can resume but with strict guidelines and May 12th, retail businesses can reopen (See the link to requirements for reopening below).
“We need to see how this works” added DeWine. “(There’s) a lot of moving parts… this is the beginning.”
Meanwhile, as of 2pmET Monday, statewide total cases number 16,325 with 3,232 hospitalizations and 753 total deaths.
Cases by county in the Scioto Valley Region: Fairfield, 116; Fayette, 14; Highland, 10; Hocking, 16; Jackson, 4; Pickaway, 1,698; Pike, 3; Ross, 36; Scioto, 6 and Vinton, 3 (reported by the VCHD, but do not appear on the State’s dashboard)
