- Ohio Governor Mike DeWine during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” warned Sunday that his state “could become Florida,” a current epicenter of COVID-19 in the United States.
- DeWine, who was initially praised for proactive steps to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Ohio, was criticized for his refusal to issue a statewide mask order.
- In late April, DeWine issued a statewide mask mandate, but quickly rescinded it after criticism, calling his own order “offensive.”
- Since then, DeWine has required that masks be worn in 19 Ohio counties experiencing outbreaks, although there is no mandate in dozens of other Ohio counties.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, who has so far rejected calls to issue a statewide mask mandate, warned Sunday that his state could become the next Florida, a current epicenter for coronavirus cases in the United States. .
“We are at the point where we could become Florida,” said DeWine. “Where you look at our numbers today versus where Florida was a month ago, we have very similar numbers. So we are very, very concerned.”
According to data analyzed by Johns Hopkins University, there have been at least 350,037 known cases of COVID-19 in Florida and 4,981 deaths. In Ohio, there have been 74,928 confirmed cases of the virus and 3,173 deaths. According to Hopkins data, 6.2% of all COVID-19 tests administered during the past week in Ohio have tested positive compared to approximately 17% of tests in Florida.
“While we did a great job in Ohio at first, now we’re headed in the wrong direction, and frankly, I’m very, very concerned about that,” he said. “So we are going to go ahead with more requests from us this week.”
The Republican governor had been praised earlier in the pandemic for his swift actions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, although he has since been criticized, particularly for his reluctance to require Ohioans to cover their faces in public. Public health experts say these masks greatly mitigate the community spread of the new coronavirus.
—Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) July 19, 2020
In June, the state’s director of health, Dr. Amy Acton, who helped DeWine craft her response to the coronavirus, resigned after protesters in the state attacked her for weeks, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
According to the Toledo Blade, on April 27, DeWine had ordered residents to wear face masks when sponsoring businesses that would soon reopen while relaxing Ohio’s stay-at-home mandate. The following day, DeWine reversed the order after receiving a backlash.
“We believe that in almost all cases, it is safer for everyone if both people wear a mask, but we also know it was offensive,” he said April 28. “People looked at this and said that is a government mandate too far.” “It’s too much”.
On Sunday, “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd asked DeWine why he had not declared a state mandate.
“I don’t think anyone in Ohio who has seen what I’ve done in the last four months doubts that they will do what they have to do to protect Ohioans,” he said, adding that officials had not ruled out a state in the entire state. order.
As of Sunday, facial masks are required in 19 of Ohio’s 88 counties under the state’s Tier 3 designation, which as of July 7 requires the use of facial masks through DeWine’s executive order. Masks are not required for counties at Level 2 or lower.
Still, DeWine emphasized that education rather than order could be more effective in preventing Ohio from becoming an epicenter.
“The orders are important, but it’s also about getting people to understand, ‘Hey, this is it, this is very, very serious,'” DeWine said.
