Cincinnati Drops Mandated Masking and Testing for City Employees

The city of Cincinnati Tuesday announced that it would end all mask and vaccine mandates for city employees, effective immediately. 

“Today, alongside top health experts and City leaders, we announced the removal of masking and testing requirements for all City employees and facilities,” Mayor Aftab Pureval (D) said on Twitter. 

Read More

Ohio Department of Health Still Won’t Provide Pandemic Update Despite CDC’s New Mask Guidance

Three people wearing masks, one focused on center

After the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Friday recommended that 70 percent of the U.S. population can stop wearing masks to slow the spread of COVID-19, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) is still unwilling to update Ohioans on the status of the pandemic. 

When contacted by The Ohio Star to ask for the department’s professional opinion on whether Ohioans will soon be able to return to pre-pandemic life, ODH spokesman Ken Gordon declined to comment. The Star also noted that even Congress – which has had a mask mandate in place for two full years and threatened to fine members who refused to wear masks – finally made masks optional ahead of President Joe Biden’s Monday night State of the Union address. 

Read More

Ohio’s COVID-19 Case Average Falls to Pre-Omicron Levels

Ohio’s seven-day COVID-19 case rate has now fallen to about the same level of seven-day cases as the state saw in mid-September, when the more deadly Delta variant was the virus’ prominent strain. 

As of February 2, Ohio had an average seven-day case rate of 7,806, a drastic drop in that average over a period of just two weeks, according to publicly available data. On January 19, the seven-day average caseload was 27,462 cases. 

Read More

Average Ohio COVID Cases Drop by 10,000 in One Week

Healthcare workers

According to Ohio’s COVID-19 data, the caseload in the state is declining dramatically from what appears to be the Omicron variant’s peak.

As of January 17, the seven-day average number of new cases peaked at 28,054. As of Monday, one week later, that number was 17,438, or a drop of about 10,500 average cases over the past seven days. 

Read More

Ohio State Controlling Board Splits $90 Million in Federal Funds: 10 Percent to Ohio Department of Health and 90 Percent to ‘Rural Transportation’

The state Controlling Board voted to split $90 million of federal taxpayer money aimed to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic between the Ohio Health Department – which will receive $8.5 million – and rural transportation departments across the state, which will receive the balance of $81.5 million to “aid for rural transportation systems,” according to a statement released by Democrats Monday.

“We need to ensure health care workers and officials on the ground have the tools they need to detect, track and contain this virus before we begin to reopen our state. This funding is a step in the right direction to get us where we need to be, but we’re not there yet,” said Minority Leader Emilia Strong Sykes (D-Akron).

Read More

State Rep Nino Vitale Calls On Gov DeWine, Dr. Amy Acton to Ease Restrictions on Elective Surgery in Ohio

State Rep. Nino Vitale (R-Urbana) issued a call to action in the form of an open letter Friday to ease restrictions and reopen hospitals and medical centers to elective surgeries in Ohio.

“My request is we allow the doctors and nurses in these fields to immediately open back up and treat Ohioans that need medical care, which is getting more and more critical by the day because of these restrictions,” Vitale wrote.

Read More