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Ohio leaving emergency status today

DeWine warns virus still a threat

The state of emergency in Ohio from the COVID-19 pandemic is lifted, effective today.

Gov. Mike DeWine made the announcement Thursday in addition to saying he was removing restrictions on visitations to nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, also effective today.

Because of the pandemic, visits to nursing homes and assisted-living facilities had to be scheduled with a limit of two visitors per resident at a time.

“We are now at the point where the state needs to stand back in regard to visitation,” DeWine said.

There are still some federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that must be followed, DeWine said.

Workers at nursing homes and assisted-living facilities who aren’t vaccinated still must be tested twice a week, he said.

About 55 percent of workers at those facilities have been vaccinated, DeWine said.

DeWine downplayed the usefulness of a state of emergency now with low case numbers. He had declared a state of emergency in the state on March 9, 2020.

If he didn’t remove the emergency declaration, the state Legislature almost certainly would have done so as soon as of next week. It largely involved waiving procurement rules for items such as personal protective equipment that are no longer needed.

While Thursday was the 13th straight day with new daily COVID-19 cases in Ohio under 500, the virus is still a threat, DeWine said.

“We’re ahead of the virus,” he said. “We have to drive it into the ground.”

But, DeWine warned, “The game is not over.”

He added: “We are losing people every single day to COVID,” estimating there are about 10 deaths a day in Ohio from the virus.

In a three-week period between May 25 and Tuesday, the last day COVID-19 death totals were reported in Ohio, the state’s daily average was more than 17 fatalities.

There were 244 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, bringing the state’s total during the pandemic to 1,108,146.

The Ohio Department of Health’s COVID-19 website Thursday had“technical difficulties” and failed to provide case numbers by county.

As of Thursday, 46.94 percent of the state’s population had at least started the COVID-19 vaccination process.

Using Wednesday statistics, DeWine said 54.76 percent of those 12 years of age and older had at least started getting vaccinated. That’s the minimum age to be eligible for the shot.

Also, 57.61 percent of those 18 years of age and older had at least started the process, he said.

DeWine said Christopher Jones, a corrections officer at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown, died last week from COVID-19.

VACCINATIONS

There were 5,486,979 people, 46.94 percent of the state’s population, who had at least started getting inoculated as of 6 a.m. Thursday, including 11,366 in the previous 24 hours, according to the ODH.

In Mahoning County, 45.53 percent of the population (104,125 people) had received at least one dose as of Thursday. With the “technical difficulties” on the website, the ODH reported declines of about 300 to 500 people vaccinated in one day in Trumbull and Columbiana counties, which isn’t possible.

There were 5,002,761 people, 42.8 percent of the state’s population, who finished the vaccinations as of 6 a.m. Thursday, including 24,158 in the prior 24 hours.

In Mahoning County, 40.96 percent of the population (93,677 people) had completed the process as of 6 a.m. Thursday. The ODH incorrectly showed declines of about 200 people vaccinated in both Trumbull and Columbiana counties as a result of problems with the website.

The Trumbull County Combined Health District is offering COVID-19 vaccination clinics at the former Lane Bryant space near Eastwood Mall’s Center Court in Niles next week.

The clinics are 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday and June 26, and from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday. People can either walk-in to the clinics or make an online appointment at gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov.

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