Gov. DeWine: “We are once again at a critical juncture in our fight against COVID-19.”
Ohio shattered its own one-day COVID-19 record as Gov. DeWine provided an update, for the first time in a week.
TOLEDO, Ohio — “Obviously, the increase in cases is not just caused by increased testing.”
Thursday, Ohio reported an additional 4,961 cases, 33 deaths and 214 hospitalizations.
After a question posed by a reporter involving potential action on the state level if people don’t start wearing masks, the governor didn’t specifically comment on any new health orders.
“When we see our hospitals starting to fill up, in all likelihood, the orders we will have to implement when it really gets dire will be uniform throughout Ohio,” he said, signaling more health orders will be coming.
Although DeWine said that he doesn’t want another shutdown to happen because of the pain it causes business and their employees, he didn’t rule it out completely, due to the fact every Ohio county meets the criteria for “high incidence”.
During the briefing, the governor announced who would replace Dr. Amy Acton, the former director of the Ohio Department of Health, who left the position following threats made to her family.
Stephanie McCloud will take the position of director at the ODH and she’s no stranger to Gov. Mike DeWine. He previously appointed McCloud to director of the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation.
Although McCloud doesn’t have any previous experience working with infectious diseases, DeWine says she’ll be a great leader and will be able to handle public pressure.
Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff will take the position of ODH chief medical officer, the governor also announced.
