(Submitted by Wood County Emergency Management Agency)
Gov. Mike DeWine issued a mandatory statewide mask order for people out in public, starting Thursday at 6 p.m.
Ohio has seen its second highest number of daily cases that have been reported (last Friday being the first highest). Hospitalizations are currently higher than the 21-day average. Deaths are about the same as the 21 day average. There has been a slow but steady increase in the number of patients in Ohio hospitals.
Last week, the governor called upon all Ohioans to wear a mask when they are out in public. He again reiterated that “the jury is back, the verdict is in,” there is more and more evidence to support this initiative. Masks do work, if the vast majority of us would wear them it could impact a great deal.
Over the last few weeks, the governor has been talking with all of the county health commissioners, mayors and county commissioners. Good news is, in a lot of our red counties, the reporting back would indicate that more and more people are wearing masks. He then thanked everyone for doing it. Preliminary data indicates the rate of increase in new cases in these red counties has slowed. However, we cannot yet say that we are at a plateau. We believe that in part or a lot is due to more people wearing masks. He is cautiously optimistic that we are slowing the curve.
More counties will likely go red tomorrow. Yellow and orange counties- The goal is for these counties not to go red. This is vitally important.
Masks plus social distancing make a huge difference. This applies to all individuals out in public- they must wear facial covering indoors, or outdoors if you aren’t able to maintain 6 feet of distance from individuals outside of your household, when waiting for, riding, driving, or operating public transportation, such as a taxi, car service, or private rideshare.
The governor emphasized that if someone has a medical reason for not wearing a mask, they do not have to wear a mask. He also urged citizens not to be judgmental. This order only applies to those 10 years of age and older. Masks are not to be worn by infants or any children under 2. We need to get this under control and wearing a mask makes a difference. What we do now determines what our fall will look like.
Two new commercials about masks will begin airing today. The 30-second spots feature real Ohioans explaining why they wear a mask. Regarding the students who travelled to Myrtle Beach- 45 Belmont County students went, now 28 of those who traveled have tested positive.
New Advisory- There is a new travel advisory covering all individuals coming into Ohio from states with a positivity rate over 15%. These individuals are asked to self-quarantine for 14 days.
County color system- new map tomorrow. Advises Ohioans when spread is increasing in their county based on the 7 indicators. System is designed to be refined over time. Refinement today- adding indicators related to testing and known contact spreading the virus.
Also, on this week’s color system map for tomorrow, there will be an enhancement to ICU indicator. They are adding to this indicator to address concerns that ICU levels increase for issues other than COVID. Now, if the ICU capacity exceeds 80% and 20% or more of the normal ICU capacity is being used for COVID patients, this will trigger.
County fairs – DeWine had a conversation this morning with all fair directors around the state. In allowing fairs, our goal was to try to provide an outlet for young people in 4-H and FFA that participate in junior fairs throughout the state. We came out with 3 pages of simple orders and protocol to be followed by the fairs.
What we have seen is that some fairs are not following this. From one county fair, 19 known cases have developed. DeWine has seen pictures of some fairs with no social distancing and with the grandstands full. They have to follow the rules and what the local health department says.
Everybody on the fairground has to wear a mask unless they are walking in the early morning when there aren’t a lot of people there. People will need to have masks on. Money to each county fair was to help them provide for safety. Local health departments do not want to be in a position to close fairs before or during the fair. Fair boards need to own their own fair.
The virus is real we cannot let our guard down, he said. DeWine also detailed several examples of house parties or other events leading to outbreaks of COVID-19 in the community. He was joined by a Clark County woman who held a 4th of July party that is connected to a number of infected people who attended. She warned that COVID-19 is real and that Ohioans need to heed the policies that are in place to reduce the spread.
Lt. Gov.. Jon Husted had good news about economic momentum. Unemployment rate is now 10.9%. A total of 208,000 more jobs were created in June, this is important for the future for our state. Employers want to get people back to work.
The governor signed a letter asking for federal legislation regarding employer liability protections so long as they are following the appropriate safety standards. Protections are to be drawn in narrow fashion to prevent negligence.
Ohio Confirmed Cases: 74,409
Ohio Probable Cases: 4,333
Ohio Total Confirmed plus Probable: 78,742
Ohio Hospitalizations: 9,864
ICU Admissions: 2,386
Ohio Confirmed COVID Deaths: 2,976
Ohio Probable COVID Deaths: 259
*For daily state hospitalization data please visit: https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/dashboards/key-metrics/hospitalizations/key-metrics-on-hospitalizations scroll to the bottom, find the date you are looking for and hover your mouse over that bar.
Wood County Cases (total plus probable): 652
Wood County Hospitalizations: 84
Wood County Deaths: 54
Wood County Active Cases: 102
County EOC Objectives:
1. Coordinate the county’s response to limit spread of COVID-19; and maintain medical care.
2. Provide timely, clear, and consistent messaging to the public, stakeholders and media on the status of COVID-19 and actions the public can take to keep themselves safe.
3. Determine how county agencies will continue delivery of essential services to Wood County
residents while following COVID-19 public health guidelines.
4. Prevent, identify, mitigate, and respond to COVID19 hotspots within the county.
EMA:
State EMA: Emergency Operations Center still at full activation status. Over the past 24
hours as of 8 this morning, the Ohio Department of Health reported 1,047 (77,215) total new
cases were below the 21-day average. The 30 (3,219) deaths, 126 (9,736) hospitalizations, and 23 (2,367) ICU Admissions were above their respective 21-day averages.
In the last 24 hours, nonew hot spots have been identified by ODH. ODH is continuing to monitor 14 previously identified hot spots. Warehouse capacity continues to be monitored as inbound supplies increase. State stockpiling and storage strategies continue to be developed.
Wood County remains at a Level 3 (Red) for the Ohio Public Health Advisory System. This means that the mandatory face covering order continues for the county until conditions improve. https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/static/publicorders/Addendum-Facial-Coverings.pdf . This means that face coverings are now required:
1. In any indoor location that is not a residence.
2. Outdoors and unable to consistently maintain a distance of 6 feet or more from individuals who are not a member of their household.
3. Waiting for, riding, driving, or operating public transportation, a taxi, private care service, or a ride sharing vehicle…. within the county.
Ohio’s Public Health Advisory System is updated every Thursday. The system consists of four levels that provide Ohioans with guidance as to the severity of the problem in the counties in which they live. The levels are determined by seven data indicators that identify the risk level for each county and a corresponding color code to represent that risk level.
The cities of Bowling Green, Toledo, Dayton, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus have now mandated facial coverings when in public.
The Wood County EMA has a few cloth masks left for local government entities. Please contact us if you have a need. These will be given on a first come first served basis.
Please contact us if you have PPE to donate, if you have any PPE needs or have any questions. The EMA has kits containing masks and hand sanitizer to be designated for local small businesses (under 100 total employees) that we will be able to push out soon. If you own a small business with less than 100 employees and are interested, please email us at woodcountyema@co.wood.oh.us .
If you know citizens looking to purchase masks, please connect them with our office and we can give them the contact information of local mask sellers.
The EMA has kits for Wood County for-profit small businesses (under 100 employees) that contain PPE and hand sanitizer. These kits were provided through JobsOhio to Wood County Economic Development. These kits are first come, first served. Please email us with your business name, address, point of contact, and how many employees you have if you are interested.
Public Health:
There are 74,409 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ohio. There have been 652 cases (total confirmed plus probable) in Wood County, 102 presently active cases, 84 of those are or have been hospitalized, 54 deaths.
A list of testing options is available at https://bit.ly/38EME56.
A reminder to employers that requirements for workplaces remain in place. These include ensuring social distancing as much as possible, requiring masks unless one of the approved exceptions, encouraging sick employees to stay home. Also, even though testing is more readily available, it is not recommended that employers require a negative test for an employee to return to work or a letter from a doctor or the health department. The health department does not provide such letters. Employers can find more information at https://bitly.com/2CmSkod .
People who have been tested and are looking for test results should have received the information about how to get their results when they were tested. Do not call the health department for results.
We’ve heard a few reports that labs are getting backed up again and it’s taking as long as 10 days for results to come in.
ODH antibody coronavirus study and postcards: They are working toward implementation of the study and will be in the field collecting biological samples starting on July 25 to 28 in Northwest Ohio. Individuals working in the field will be in bright yellow t-shirts with the ODH logo. This is a legitimate campaign.
Wood County Health Commissioner Ben Batey has been appointed as Bowling Green State University chief health officer. Batey, who will continue focusing on the public health of Wood County through this growing partnership, will begin his cabinet-level appointment as chief health officer at BGSU on July 27.
Case follow-up and contact tracing – Confirmed and probable cases are reported to the health department. Several health department staff are involved in contacting cases and their close contacts to ensure isolation and quarantine guidelines are followed. In addition, a UT professor has enlisted a pool of trained nursing and other students to help the health department with interviews of cases and their close contacts.
Testing – testing locations and other local information, as well as links to ODH and CDC resources, can be found at Coronavirus.WoodCountyHealth.org and https://sites.google.com/view/wchdohio-coronavirus/home/Testing
Healthcare:
For agency resource requests, please contact us at: woodcountyema@co.wood.oh.us .
Many of the long term care facilities have been paired with Wood County Hospital as their primary source of PPE requests. If there are any questions about this and your facility please reach out to our office.
Law Enforcement/EMS/Fire
Wayne Fire Department is having a Drive-Thru Chicken Barbecue this Saturday, July 25, Wayne Vol. Fire Dept. Drive-Thru/Carry Out Chicken BBQ, 200 N. Center St. Wayne, serving 4:30 p.m. until gone for $10 per meal.
Perrysburg Twp. Fire and Local 4170 is collecting school supplies for the upcoming 2020-2021 school year. In an effort to help out the students and teachers to keep their supply boxes and classrooms full they are asking for help. Please drop off new supplies (i.e. back packs, crayons, glue sticks, dry erase markers, pencils, paper, folders, hand sanitizer, tissue paper and erasers) in the lobby located at 26711 Lime City Road. Our main entrance is past the police cars on the right hand side.
The National Police Foundation, with support from The Starbucks Foundation and The Motorola Solutions Foundation,has announced the National First Responder COVID-19 Grant Relief Program. This program will allow first responders and survivors of first responders in underserved communities an opportunity to request a grant to reimburse select COVID-19 related expenses, such as mental health and wellness costs, (i.e. counseling services, suicide prevention), unanticipated dependent care, disinfecting services, and similar costs. These micro-grants may be awarded in an amount up to $1000. First responders or family members interested in applying for a grant can review eligibility and apply here: https://www.policefoundation.org/national-first-responder-covid-19-grant-relief-program/
Applications can be submitted beginning on July 15, 2020 Please direct program specific questions to Mary Kate Murphy, Project Coordinator at mkmurphy@policefoundation.org or 202.833.1460 Ext.088
BGSU:
In a two-part virtual town hall series for faculty and staff, BGSU leadership shared additional details about the university’s plans and response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including academics, research and creative activities, class and instructional delivery modes, health and safety protocols, facilities, and diversity and belonging efforts in a COVID-19 world.
Fall semester classes will now start on Wednesday, Aug. 26. https://www.bgsu.edu/coronavirus/return-to-campus.html?deliveryName=DM7669 To best plan and to lessen the impact COVID-19 may have on our campuses, in-person classes will end on Wednesday, Nov. 25. The last week of classes will be Nov. 30-Dec. 4, and will be conducted remotely. Final exam week will be Dec. 7-11, 2020, and will also be conducted remotely. In addition, to provide maximized flexibility, we have also canceled Winter Session in 2021. Based upon current planning, classes for spring semester will now begin on Jan. 11, 2021, and end on April 30, 2021.
Local:
Drive-Thru food pantry today from 6 to 7 p.m., for Wood County residents at First United Methodist Church, 1526 E. Wooster St.
Drive-thru community dinner will be held Friday July 24, from 5 to 6 p.m., or until food runs out at Bowling Green Alliance Church, 1161 Napoleon Road, Bowling Green.
Northwood: free breakfast and lunch available for youth up to age 18. This is happening every Monday and Wednesday through July. Service will be drive through only. Delivery time is 11 to 11:45 a.m. Location: Northwood High School 600 Lemoyne Road Northwood, and Brentwood Shelter House 300 Brentwood Drive. Northwood. No need to RSVP.
