Governor DeWine Says Ohio Schools Could Remain Closed for Rest of Academic Year, Orders All Restaurants to Close

 

Gov. Mike DeWine said Sunday morning that Ohio’s public schools could remain closed for the rest of the academic year.

DeWine ordered all K-12 public schools to close for three weeks beginning at the end of the day Monday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), however, said that closing for eight weeks or more would have a greater impact on mitigating the spread of the virus.

“Available modeling data indicate that early, short to medium closures do not impact the epi curve of COVID-19 or available health care measures,” a new guidance from the CDC states.

DeWine said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that it’s “absolutely” possible schools will stay closed for the rest of the year.

“I’m just going by what medical experts are telling us. You know, this may not peak until the latter part of April or May so we’ve informed the superintendents, while we’ve closed the schools for three weeks, the odds are this is going to go on a lot longer and it would not surprise me at all if schools did not open again this year.”

The experts tell us that #COVID19 may not peak until late April or May, so it is possible that #Ohio's three-week K-12 school closure may go on longer. #COVID19OhioReady https://t.co/UxF6Bl8qEu

— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) March 15, 2020

As of Sunday, Ohio had 36 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and said an additional 350 have been tested and are waiting for their results. Between Friday and Saturday, Ohio’s number of confirmed cases doubled from 13 to 26.

DeWine’s administration has also issued an order banning all public gatherings of more than 100 people, but exemptions are currently provided for airports, workplaces, religious gatherings, funerals, and weddings.

The governor said on Twitter that he will be issuing an executive order closing all bars and restaurants in the state, which will take effect Sunday at 9 p.m.

We will be issuing an order closing all bars and restaurants in #Ohio beginning at 9:00 tonight.

— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) March 15, 2020

The United States has 2,836 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 57 deaths. Globally, those numbers are 156,536 cases and 5,835 deaths.

The CDC notes that early data shows older adults and people with chronic medical conditions are at higher risk of getting very sick from the illness.

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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun and The Ohio Star. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].