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Governor DeWine Press Conference Summary for Thursday, November 19

Below are the updates from Governor DeWine’s press conference. The next press conference is currently scheduled for Tuesday, November 24th at 2:00 PM.  

Here’s the news from Thursday: 

  • Ohio’s COVID-19 case data is below:
    • 310,103 confirmed cases
    • 16,512 probable cases  
    • 326,615 total cases
    • 23,560 hospitalizations
    • 5,522 confirmed deaths
    • 368 probable deaths
    • 5,890 total deaths
    • 4,318 ICU admissions
    • More data is available on the COVID-19 Dashboard HERE. 
    • Upgraded to Level 4: Franklin
    • Upgraded to Level 3: Columbiana, Darke, Fulton, Perry, Van Wert, and Tuscarawas
    • Watchlist Counties: Montgomery, Lorain, and Lake 
  • Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that ODH Director Stephanie McCloud signed a health order encouraging people to stay at home during specified hours unless they are working or engaged in an essential activity. Individuals within the state must stay at a place of residence during the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. except for obtaining necessary food, medical care, social services, providing care for others, or other specified exceptions.  
  • Governor DeWine today announced his intention to veto Senate Bill 311 if passed by the Ohio General Assembly.  The bill, which is currently under consideration in the Ohio House of Representatives, would severely limit the ability of the Ohio Department of Health to issue orders necessary to prevent the spread of infectious diseases now and in the future.  Please see the attached letter of opposition to Senate Bill 311 from the Ohio Hospital Association, Ohio State Medical Association, Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics-Ohio Chapter.   
  • As part of the Administration’s efforts to continue sharing information about COVID-19, our team has created several “Coalition Communication Fact Sheets” for industries, including: agriculture, healthcare, philanthropy, higher-ed, k-12 education, faith based, business, tourism and arts, law enforcement, and local government. These documents will be updated each week and include helpful talking points, sample social media posts, resources, updated COVID data, etc. Attached is one example.  
  • Two new COVID-19 dashboards tracking the number of cases at Ohio child care centers are now available. The first dashboard tracks the number of children and staff cases in individual centers. Because of the small size of home-based providers, many of which serve six or fewer children, positive COVID cases from children and adults in those facilities will be tracked by county on a separate dashboard. 
  • Ohio's Retail Compliance Unit has visited more than 50 percent of Ohio counties in its first three days. Agents have observed over 90 percent compliance in social distancing and mask-wearing in retail establishments, a noticeable improvement. 
  • CALL TO ACTION: Governor DeWine announced a new ODH video “Ohio Has Grit” with professional athlete Clark Kellogg. Please help share this video with your networks.  
  • Attached are the slides that Governor DeWine used during the press conference.  
  • Ohioans filed 24,964 initial and 254,613 continued jobless claims last week, according to statistics the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) reported to the U.S. Dept. of Labor today. In addition, 236,850 Ohioans received Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) last week.  
  • Over the last 35 weeks, ODJFS has distributed more than $7.3 billion in unemployment compensation payments to more than 841,000 Ohioans. Of the more than 1 million applications the agency has received, more than 95% have been processed, with less than 5% pending. In addition, ODJFS has issued more than $7 billion in PUA payments to more than 682,000 PUA claimants. 
  • Ohioans can apply for unemployment benefits online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at unemployment.ohio.gov. It is also possible to file by phone at 877-644-6562 or TTY at 888- 642-8203, Monday through Friday 7AM to 7PM, Saturday 9AM to 5PM, and Sunday 9AM to 1PM. Employers with questions should email UCTech@jfs.ohio.gov.  

As always, Coronavirus.Ohio.Gov and the Department of Health hotline, 1-833-4-ASK-ODH are great resources for those who have questions.

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