Transcripts For CSPAN2 Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Coronavirus Briefing 20240713

Next an update from Ohio Governor mike dewine on the Coronavirus Response in his day, he talks about access for testing and preparing for an influx of patients in hospitals and other medical facilities. Good afternoon, everyone. This years spring comes early. Later tonight, when spring comes in, this is the first day of spring, spring is a time of renewal, rebirth, always a time of hope. And so i think it is significant that we think about that today. We are in dead winter, we know this winter what we are going through is going to continue for a while but we also know there is hope and spring will come. Spring will come to ohio and across this country and it reminds us how good life is and the importance of all of us doing everything we can to get through this and move forward and there will be a new day coming. If doctor atkins is right, we may even see a baby boom, a lot of babies born. There is nothing more joyful than the birth of a child. We have a lot to look forward to. I am going to thank my fellow citizens in ohio for what they are doing. It is a patriotic act, individual things people are doing, what people are doing to help their fellow citizens, what they are doing to stay away from their fellow citizens. That truly is patriotic. I was reminded this morning, there were headlines across the state, pretty good headline. A pretty good indication what ohioans and americans are doing across the country. Good deeds or more. I want to thank everyone who has been doing good deeds, a lot of good deeds ahead of us to do but thank you so much for doing that. We were attacked. We rallied. We fought back. It took a while, and its really true. We have been attacked. We have been attacked by this virus. And we are asking our fellow citizens to do extraordinary acts. We are asking them, each one, to do something. Each one to do the distancing. Were asking people to make the sacrifice, dont go on that spring break, dont get on that airplane. Dont do all the things that we normally do. Dont go to the pub. Dont go to the bar. Dont go to the restaurant. And each one of us is making those sacrifices. And just as in a time of war where we have been hit by a foreign country, we have been attacked by this virus. We have to pull together. And ultimately, its going to be the small acts, what seems small, of each and every american that truly is going to make all the difference in the world. Each ohio when. When i came home last night, fran said, you know, when we have a crisis, 9 11, Different Things that are going on through our history, americans have put out the flag to really show unity, show when not going to be pushed aside, not going to be conquered. Were going to be defiant and some asking today all of us to put our flags up. Fly that flag every single day. If you have an ohio flag, like that but most people have an american flag. Put that flag out. Fran tells me she just put hours out on the front porch. Dr. Acton says her husband just put their flag out. As i would ask all my fellow ohio citizens to do that. We will get through this. Spring will come, and all the joys of life we will again be able to enjoy. We have several speakers today to kind of give you an update of whats going on. Ive asked people who really have an expertise to come in. I want to first start with the chief justice of the state of ohio, maureen oconnor. And what the chief justice will do is to talk about the judiciary, talk about the courts, coequal branch of government. And she will then take questions from the news media. And i would just ask that the questions be confined to the chief, and to the issues obviously in regard to the courts and the criminal justice system. We have people throughout the state who work very, very hard, who do a great job whether its prosecutors, whether its courts, clerk of courts and we could go on and on, judges, and everyone. So chief, i would ask you to come up and say some words. Really give a report to the people of the state of ohio. Thank you. Thank you very much, governor. Think of it invitation to participate this afternoon. I want to thank you also for your courageous leadership on the subject. I think that you have set ohio as an example for the rest of the nation, and we are proud. This is unprecedented time undoubtedly come a time during which the judiciary of ohio as well as the bar, the state and local leaders must come together to guarantee of vital a continued operation of the states judicial system and the publics access to justice. I both commit and thank ohios judiciary for taking action, issuing orders and considering the health and safety of the public as well as their staff. All the while mindful of the structure and dictates of our constitution and our laws. My intent today is to let everyone know what the courts are doing and my expectation of what they should be doing to continue operating in a manner consistent with the states Public Health strategy. Last friday i met with the states, state judicial leadership to discuss the judiciary response to this pandemic. After that meeting i sent a lengthy email to all judges in ohio. In the meeting an email i emphasize several key points that are want to highlight today. Courts must open, must be open to address emergency and time sensitive matters. Indiscriminate closure of the courts with no plan for these issues is not an option. Judges across each county must cooperate among themselves to issue orders and establish procedures necessary to continue essential Core Functions in this rapidly developing situation, and in light of the further directives of governor dewine and health officials. The need for uniform by young and consistency among judges is paramount. Further, judges need to consult and collaborate with local leaders to develop a plan to ensure essential access to the courts that it will continue. This collaborative, this collaboration needs to include all stakeholders, clerks of course, health and Law Enforcement officials, attorneys, treatment providers, Children Services and others. These are all essential members of the operation. Total closure of the courts and the clerks of course officers presents and access to justice issue. Measures can be taken to ensure access to justice while safeguarding the health of employees by limiting but not eliminating access. The courts can be closed to the public for nonessential purposes. Ive asked judges to prioritize the workload, to reduce the need for jury pools and the level of Public Traffic in courthouses. I i encouraged them to maximize technology and to modify the order to reduce the need for facetoface interaction. I urge them to consider lowering bonds and using summons instead of arrests to help minimize jail populations. I noticed some creative local solutions to these problems and urge courts to use their authority and their initiative to employ similar solutions. Courts all over the state have responded by issuing orders that do just that. I might add the website of the judicial conference which can be accessed from our website contains the orders issued by the local courts. If you access it you will note the response by our judiciary. For example, courts in cuyahogaa county suspended all nontime sensitive civil and criminal jury trials. And if implemented a jury calling systems of jurors would not have to appear unnecessarily. Also when possible hearings are being conducted by video to reduce persontoperson contact. Foreclosure actions and sheriffs sales, our state for 60 60 day. It will ensure individuals are not forced out of their home during the Public Health crisis. Jackson county has leverage their existing Statutory Authority under the ohio revised code to extend speedy trial time in criminal cases on the ground of the governors emergency declaration. As ive advised, ohio revised code 2945. 72 states the time within which iqs may be brought to trial or in the case of a felony to preliminary hearing and trial may be extended during the period by any for the period of any continuance granted on the accused motion and the time of any reasonable continuance granted other than upon the accused Motion Pictures illustrate continuance is up on reasonable grounds. Judges can should employ the provision were appropriate and issue orders detailing the reasonable grounds for the continuance. And franklin transmissible court is authorized use of recognizance bonds for nonviolent misdemeanors and traffic cases. But theyre still more work to be done. Today i want to encourage local courts to continue using their own authority and initiative to address common issues that we see across the state. For example, i urge all judges to grant continuances or use alternate methods for nonessential court appearances. Ensure that the Clerks Office remains open and accessible to the public, temporarily stay appropriate convictions of foreclosure proceedings, temporarily refrain from issuing warrants for failed to appear for traffic violations, minor misdemeanor and nonviolent misdemeanor offenses. Find ways to provide remote and yet meaningful Treatment Options for those with Substance Abuse disorder. Change probation and Community Control and pretrial supervision meetings to phone or video reporting. Finally, i urge judges to use their discretion to release people held in jail and police incarcerated individuals for inn a high risk category for being infected with the virus. Looking ahead, we will be working with the governor and the General Assembly on a legislative proposal which will provide more uniformity and continuity in our judicial systems response to emergencies such as this. I must also mention the work of the Supreme Court staff itself. We continue to consider and decide cases. Although we have taken commonsense common sense measures consistent with the governors guidance to reduce risk, the court remains open. We have essential staff performing their duties on and off site. Will continue to accept case filings, provide support for judges, for local court staff and for attorneys. Finally, i understand many local courts lack the technology and resources needed to implement many of the suggestions. To meet that demand the Supreme Court will release funds in the form of grants to local courts to obtain videoconferencing equipment. It is my hope that by pushing out this sunday on an emergency basis we can assist the local s and a quick implementation of videoconferencing for arraignments and other conferencing needs. I expect to announce the process for those grants tomorrow. We decide on amount of 4 million that would be taken from my budget and dispersed to the local courts for this purpose. Before i take your questions i would like to say that i personally been in touch with many judges, the bar associations leadership, and in constant conversation with the director of the ohio judicial conference. We are working together in this everchanging environment and we are so pleased to continue to do so. Thank you. I will take any questions you might have. Kevin landers, can you explain a little bit more about releasing prisoners or in the high risk category of attracting the virus . Thank you. There obviously are many different ages and Health Conditions of prisoners in our jails. And an assessment should be done to determine whether or not that they can safely be released, given the facts of their age and maybe other Health Conditions that they might have that they have to deal with. This is twofold. One, to safeguard the folks that are already in jail. And also to offer the individual who may be at risk the opportunity to be isolated outside of the jail environment. This is up to the local courts to do. And in conjunction obviously with the sheriffs to run the jails, but this is something ive asked them to consider. Molly martinez with spectrum is. Im wondering if theres any push to clear out lowlevel offenders and make more room in the prisons during this pandemic . I dont speak for the presence. Im talking about the jails when a make this recommendation. Will the be any leniency with the jails and who was incarcerated . Thats what i mention the judges should review their mail and the circumstances which they are people detained in the jails. And prioritize releases based on that. Thank you. Chief, there were two justices who recused themselves from election day. Could you tell us how youre going to replace them and considering this case . If you can could you comment on the fact you yourself are being sued over your election day decision. Was first of all not going to comment on pending cases. Ill tell you in general, when cases are not orally argued there is no need for visiting judge to sit on a case. We need four justices to create a majority as you well know. As long as we have four justices that are in unison theres the need to deal with the fact that we dont have four justices. If we did have a problem with four justices, there would be an agreement, it would be a need to supplement with visiting judges. But not at this time. Andrew welsh, associated press. In terms of the recommendations youve made that you like to see judges and court undertake, can you explain whether you have the ability to ramp that up at all and make an actual judicial order . And depending on your answer to that, is that something that you take advantage of . In other words, instead of making recommendations, do you have any way to issue a directive, and order to judges to actually do these things . Thanks for that question. There are two different types of judicial systems in the 50 states that we have in our country. One is called a unified system and one is what we have here in the file, which is a nonunified system. In the unified system the Supreme Court, the chief justice, has that type of power that you just described and can issue directives not just for emergency situations but many of the situations that present themselves in the course of managing the judicial system in the state. We dont have that in ohio. We have superintendents rule 14 which is a declaration of judicial emergency. This does not go as far as what you were suggesting that there would be, a pronouncement from the chief justice that would be binding on all judges. At least thats my interpretation of rule 14 at this time. When i mention that were looking at legislation, thats exactly what we looking at, to create legislation that would under very, very limited and specialized circumstances such as what were experiencing here, should there be a need, the opportunity of the chief justice to make those types of orders that would be binding on the judiciary. Real quickly, the legislature is actually meeting next week. Are you looking at a fix that quickly when youre talking about that type of legislation . In an ideal world thats the way it would happen, but were not in an ideal world so well see. Thanks. This is Jake Zuckerman from the ohio capital journal. I wanted to ask about come is a prudent to allow the eviction process to continue . Would you repeat your question . I thought i heard you say there was no moratorium on evictions. Could you clarify that . Is it prudent to continue to allow the eviction process to continue in this pandemic . Thats an interesting question. Most people think that evictions are just for a nonpayment of your rent or whatever the situation, but there are certain types of evictions that may be, for example, Domestic Violence and try to get some of evicted from the home because they present a danger to the other members who are living in the home. Its up to the courts to deal with that, and to figure out yes, if there is an eviction that is in process are going, they could have a moratorium on filing of evictions, and foreclosures in the same way. They can do that. But then again they have to have the flexibility that is someone needs to be removed through the eviction process, because they are Domestic Violence perpetrator, that should be allowable on local courts judgment and initiative. So ohio has eight eat different counties, over 700 judges, over 350 courts in the state, and we are not as a set a unified state, but theres a reason i think maybe for that. Its because with such a variety of communities and Court Systems and resources. So i am in favor of the Solutions Coming from the locals and being implemented by the local courts and local Community Leaders and officials, of course. And as a last resort, i would resort to the contents of the legislation i just described. Now, different mayors in the state that im aware of average that evictions be stayed, that in utilities be reinstated or the process determine it be suspended. Those are good practices and those are practices that i would definitely would urge. Hello, chief justice. Im told im your last question today. Apparently, Hamilton County judge has asked you to issue a uniform order, uniform guidance in keeping with your power to quote, do all things necessary to ensure the orderly and Efficient Administration of justice. And then related to that, can you speak to any equal protection concerns for potential jurors or witnesses in different counties under varying covid19 orders to appear or not appear in court . Would you repeat what the judge from Hamilton County, for what purpose . You know, a sauna cleveland. Com article. Apparently they are quoting him. He is asking you to issue a uniform order for all courts aced on your power quote to do all things necessary to ensure the orderly and Efficient Administration of justice. In other words, that would be your Legal Authority to do so. I know youve addressed ohio being nonuniform. I didnt have you address that precise phrase that i dont know where it appears right now, and in a related question again, what equal protection concerns are there for jurors and witnesses in different counties under different covid19 orders . Okay. If there was a need, if our local judges and local leadership were not addressing the issues the present themselves, maybe i would have to take a look at anything in some way but thats not the case that we have here today. There is, as i said, theres orders. You can take a look at them on the website, and you can see for yourself the type of measures that are being taken in the individual courts. Theres many, many, many of these measures that are taken in the courts to address this. The address all kinds of situations. Primarily they are concerned about jury pools, which points to your second question, and not having jury trials because of health risk that imposes. The fact that you may have difficulty even having jurors report. If the court employs the appropriate Statutory Authority to continue cases, theres way authority is and thats how those trials can be continued. Can you address equal protection question between the county . Under going to address an equal protection question. First of all theres not one before us. And secondly, if there was, i would have to consult with my call is because it would be a case in front of us and i dont speculate on cases either when theyre being been filed or why are potentially. So with that if there are no other questions, thank you very much. Thanks, chief. Chief, thank you very much. I have a few points. I want to assure everyone, and we have talked to anybody who would know about this, at the Grocery Supply chain is doing well. So you dont have to think that the food is going to runout in the grocery store. I know people have been concern and buying a number of items, but things are still moving forward. The bakery is still going and all the transportation is still going, so everything is fine. That certainly will all be a priority as we move forward. Next, let me say that the illegal internet cafes, as of right now, we are closing them. And even if you think your internet cafe is legal, its closed as well. We have received complaints from local officials that we people gathering there. So i just want to make that very clear, and were issuing an order to that effect. The concern is always the same, its a number of people coming together. Weve heard concerns raised by local government officials and questions in regard to can they conduct their business remotely. This is something that the General Assembly will take up next week. I would suggest that all local governments did ready to do that. Obviously they need to comply and make sure that the press is notified, make sure that not only is the press notified but they have access to watch, see what is going on. Thats important that during this time of crisis that the Public Confidence remain strong, but we also know that gathering people together is not something that we would like to see. So the General Assembly will address this i believe next week. Let me call everyones attention to a directive from the puco that came out last week, and i think because all the other things have been going on, it may not have been as widely reported as possible so want to emphasize this again. They have issued a moratorium in regard to electric and gas disconnects. At least for the time being. That runs through may 1, unbelief. Im sure that will be addressed in the future, but i want to make that i believe. I know theyre been concerns and people are asked me about that. I also foresee some requests, and anil dr. Acton will talk about this, that the requests are, what can we tell families were thinking about going on their spring break . What do we tell people who are already in the spring break and come back from florida . We will start with those coming back from florida or any place else. We welcome you, but the most prudent thing to do, and again dr. Acton will address this, but the most prudent thing to do if you been traveling, please stay in your home. Please make sure that youre not in contact with people outside your family that lives in that home. Thats certainly the most prudent thing. We have an example yesterday of someone who very innocently came back from spring break, was in florida, and that did not end the way we wanted it to end. We would also say that as far as anyone thinking about traveling, please reconsider that. It is a high risk proposition and we would hope that you would not do that. When i got home last night, one of the first things fran said to me was that before i announced the people should be getting thermometers, i might want to check and see if those thermometers are available. Its true. Ive gotten also of the calls. So we know that they are in very, very short supply. But let me try to put that in context. Really what i was trying to say very in artfully was that employers that continue to work, and with essential industries that must continue, we would ask them to be extremely careful with their employees, for the benefit of the employees, for the benefit of everyone. And so doing the extra sanitation, doing all the things that you need to do, taking temperature was one suggestion, but i know thermometers are hard to get. It would be a good idea to ask your employees, take a temperature at home for those who do have one. Ask about how well the employees are feeling. Clean, disinfect. And again, what we say all the time is just separation. Try to observe in the workplace the same separation that were trying to observe of urls. It comes back to small, small decisions that each one of us makes every single day is going to determine how well we do and whether our Healthcare System actually can hold up under what is coming ahead. Every day i get rumors and i get texts and emails and calls. So let me do my Daily National guard rumor put down. The National Guard is not involved in carrying weapons. You may see them carrying groceries. They are helping at food banks. And so you are going to see the guard involved in transport. Youre going to see the involved in doing things that they can do with the equipment. When theres any change in that come if there is any change in that, we certainly will let everyone know. So again i want to make sure everyone understands again, rumors about martial law, quarantining edwin in their home. None of those are true, and again as governor i think its important that i kind of put that down. Ive been made aware that theres scam artists and its the most despicable thing. Every time theres a crisis, every time theres something cut that goes on after a tornado, for example, theres always scam artist, always someone trying to rip someone off. A small number of people, many of them im sure there on the internet, maybe not even live in ohio, we dont know where you live. But someone is on the internet trying to get your personal data. Do not give them your personal data. Its our same basic rules that weve had in the past. Im now going to introduce several members of our cabinet. Let me start with marine, our director of medicaid maureen. I picked her for her expertise in this area, of long longstanding. Shes been really an incredibly compassionate, dedicated Public Servant for over 30 years. Focusing in on some of the most vulnerable populations that we have. Person who runs the medicaid department, runs a very, very significant department. She has a nursing degree, nba as well from case western. After Nursing School she moved to cleveland and has lived in ohio since that time. Maureen. Thank you, governor. As governor said my name is maureen. Im director of the Ohio Department of medicaid. Medicaid is a Health Care Program that serves about 3 million ohioans, about 1. 2 million of whom are children. And that includes more than 210,000 ohioans who are over 65. We support and care for ohioans in all manners of healthcare environment and community environment, including 60,000 older ohioans who are served in home and Community Based services in the home. More than 41,000 ohioans with Developmental Disabilities who are served also in the community as well as more than 50,000 ohioans who are served in ohios nursing facilities. Youve heard the governor and doctor acton say in recent weeks that dr. Acton is the doctor for ohio. She takes care of the Public Health of all ohioans. As a nurse i feel like i share that responsibility to care for all ohioans even though i have a responsibility for just a small number of those ohioans. Today the governor is issuing an executive order that will authorize emergency rules that will expand dramatically expand access to medical and Behavioral Health Services Using telehealth. I want to talk you a little bit about what that means and why thats important. So Telehealth Services includes not only fancy video capacity that we know we have in some of our wonderful Healthcare Facilities and practitioners, but it also includes simple things like telephone calls, land lines, facetime, and the use of simple smartphones. Today we are expanding the ability to access Medicaid Services to all of those venues. So that you or the patients that you serve can be cared for or can contact you from their home, to not have to come out to your office, not have to go to the emergency room, and not have to go to the hospital because of concerns with their health. To be served by telehealth or to be served in this manner, the individuals do not necessarily have to have an existing relationship with a doctor. They dont have to be an established patient. So if you are an individual and you havent been signed up or are not cared for with the primary care doctor, you can do that now and you can do it from your home and be able to get the kind of consultation or reassurance that you need. We are further expanded it so there are no limitations on practitioners or sites where a patient can be consulted. It includes professional physician groups, federally qualified health centers, rural health centers, ambulatory health clinics, hospitals, Emergency Rooms and other community Behavioral Health centers. And just to give you a sense, its not been limited to just the physicians and advanced practice professionals. It includes certainly physicians, psychologists, physician assistants, clinical nurse specialist, why since independent social workers, license chemical dependency counselors, other kinds of supervised tactician is, audiologist, occupational therapist, physical therapists, speech and language therapists, and practitioners who serve our children through our Medicaid School program. As well as dietitians and other providers that we might need to designate as we go forward. The kinds of services that are available through this mechanism include a virtual check in with your physician or with other qualified Health Professionals that i mentioned, remote evaluation of a recorded video or an image of something on your body that you want your practitioner to look at, for example. Online digital evaluation and management services, Remote Monitoring of physiological parameters such as heart rate, electrocardiograph reading, things like that that your practitioner can check again remotely and through these mechanisms. Certain occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech language and some of these other therapies, as well as medical nutrition provided by titian. Dietitian. Behavioral health is another important very important component of this that the governor has talked about in recent days. The department of Mental Health and Addiction Services is coordinating with us to implement a similar expanded array of services and providers throughout our community Behavioral Health services across the state. And that includes things like treatment, counseling, crisis services, inhome behavioral therapy for children, psychosocial rehab, peer recovery and other kinds of affiliated services. Before i leave i want to take us back to the basics are just a moment. Enabling this full array of services both medical and Behavioral Health to be done remotely or through phone or video is an important way for us to take pressure off our Emergency Rooms and hospitals, while allowing ohioans to be able to continue to receive quality care and do not have to even leave their home to do that. We also know theres difficulty with access in certain remote areas of the state and that this is a perfect time for us to be able to make new and better inroads to providing services in those areas of the state. And most important thing, allows us to protect families and health and Behavioral Health practitioners from contracting or spreading the virus. While these are important rules as relates to medicaid and community Behavioral Health funding, this is important to everyone. The governor has been communicating with other Insurance Companies and Community Providers across the state, from my conversations with them, private Insurance Companies are even also following in this path. They are taking our lead beginning to also expand Telehealth Services in other ways. So its not just limited to our service. So it is very helpful with this crisis, in fact, its a necessity, but as they say, necessity is the mother of invention. I would offer to you today that this is not only helpful in our crisis, it is also a way for us in our Healthcare System to leapfrog forward, to take advantage of the crisis and begin to provide healthcare in a different way that will be satisfied and more accessible and reachable to many ohioans. Finally, i want to thank the ohio professional boards who worked with us, counseling and social work, marriage and family therapist boards, the speech and hearing board, the medical board, the boards who worked to revise and lift the requirements so that all these requirements would align and practitioners would then be able to take full advantage of the flexibility. We are also very pleased to have centers for medicare and Medicaid Services and other federal agencies who similarly are making changes in their policies that are enabling us to do this and a much broader and widespread way. So with that i close by simply saying that while we are all dealing with the event associated with this crisis, it is still very important that people continue to be in touch with their primary care doctor, and this is a new way, a new opportunity both for practitioners and for consumers that we hope you will feel you can take advantage of. Michelle worked for me in the Attorney Generals Office for a number of years where she ran our elder justice unit. She has over 25 years of local and state experience of the aging as well as in other areas and shias from youngstown. Ursel mcelroy. Thank you, governor, and thank you to my as director of ohio state unit of aging, i have the opportunity to represent 2. 8 million older ohioans in the state, or for those of you who may not be aware, we have the six largest older Adult Population within the nation. And within our department we have responsibility for many programs, policies, services that impact older ohioans. And we have been focused on older adults since this covid19 occurrence has hit our state. In fact, we have been watching it. Weve been paying attention weve been really locked in. Theres been a lot of attention on older adults because we know they are one of the very high risk populations during this time. Much of our discussion has been around our nursing facility. For what i would like to do is give you a really quick snapshot of what this means, the impact of covid19 for older adults across the state both within our facilities as well as within our communities. Nursing homes receive a lot of attention first because we know that older adults are at risk and because we know that this is a congregant site. What we also know about our Nursing Homes is that they train for this type of situation everyday. They know how to apply precautions and prevention controls. And the not to bring calm and enough to face these really tough decisions. Our job throughout his time is bent to listen to them and nonen we can do to help them and support them. Help them in this very fast approaching and fastmoving occurrence with covid19. And the nursing facilities with help by providing guidance. We have also moved through the continuum and weve limited and restricted visitation in our Nursing Homes and longterm care facilities. We also help by monitoring the consistency of the delivery of need supplies of the facilities and tracking the available workforce to ensure the residents are able to get the care that they need. Weve also formed a special team focusing on covid19 and how we will respond within our nursing facilities. We also have on our continuum that we keeping our eyes on our senior congregant housing settings. We have tens of thousands of older adults in congregate settings. Many of them residing in our Affordable Housing communities. Many of them live independently but they are only able to do so with the help of Different Service providers. We are strategizing now to see how we can continue to provide Services Within these settings while minimizing those opportunities for congregation. Other Vital Services that we need to have a discussion about and for people to have full appreciation of in terms of decisions that we have to make our our Senior Centers and adult based centers. These serve central hubs for many people to receive support, meals, and in some cases really basic supervision. But these are also sites where people have to congregate. And so i would say to individuals that are using these sites or families of using these sites, we recognize the importance of them and how they provide a very Necessary Service for your loved ones. But i would encourage you to begin to think of alternative ways that we can provide these services for them. Within our department what were doing is looking at how we can begin to transfer those meals that people get in congregant sites can now home delivered meals and other options for people so they dont have to concern themselves or worry that they will not have a meal. We are also now moving at a really rapid pace of making some really important decisions on essential services because what we have to appreciate is as many people who typically congregate now will be at home. We now have to find ways to be able to provide those services to meet those needs in home settings. And so meals, we believe they will be an exponential need for home delivered meals. We also know we will have needs in terms of essential services such as personal care. Those services where people help individuals with basic needs such as changing them, helping them to get up, helping them to bathe when indeed appear in some cases feeding individuals. We have to be prepared in our facilities but also outside of our facilities so we can provide people with a very basic things that they need. With that some of the decisions that we have to make them some of the things threat to contemplate, are the services we can offer, but also being able to provide the support for the workforce that will be needed to provide the very critical and basic things for these families. I would like to say that as we continue to contemplate these things, as we continue to work with our sister agencies to help us through these i think pretty challenging times, the times that we know we can make it through, we are very energized by the local communities, and im also very energized and if they can support for you to know and understand that the aging network is a very sophisticated and a very well operated and mature network. While we will be challenged to do this, you know that were absolute up to the test group we will have to call upon the support of others here we will ask for support from our federal partners, our state partners and our local partners. So if youre wondering what can you do right now, im going to leave you with yes, im going to give you plug on what i need from you. So that we can all get through this together. One thing, you know, weve heard a lot about distancing, and i heard dr. Acton city of the date that is important for us to talk more about say the other day social distancing. Call sum up, use video calling if you can, but check on your older loved ones or your neighbors. It is a critical important at this time. Ask them how theyre feeling. I be eating . Do they have the things that they need . Offered to go to the store for them and run errands for the ether able to do so. If you are able to pick up medication for them, please do so. If you think that can help them in terms of entertainment i would ask you to provide them with those things. And if you must visit them, if you must, certainly i would ask that we use our basic common sense. Wash her hands, check ahead and make really smart decisions before you make a decision entering someones home. If you have questions, always, always go to the website, coronavirus. Ohio. Gov. Where frontline support through our area agency on aging network. Every county can access one through our Regional Network of aging offices. But just know that you have a very Strong Network here in ohio. You have a very dedicated network and ohio, and we have already made Great Strides in being able to do business a little differently so that we can take care of the individuals both within the facilities and those also outside of the facilities. Thank you, governor. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. And thank you to my colleagues who just amazing work every day, even before this begin. Its such an honor to work with them. Today i will start with our numbers. As of this afternoon we do have 119 confirmed cases with an illness onset range of february february 7 to march 18. Females are at 43 43 of those s and 76 males. Hospitalizations are 33. I have to say Healthcare System is very top of mind for me right now. We have 24 counties accounted for on that list, so that list is growing as well. I want to thank everyone who is heeding the urgent call by our governor and our lieutenant governor, and following everything that weve asked. We know this is a difficult time, but as dr. Collins recently said, from the nih, we are definitely on the upslope now. It is urgent for those of you, and we all know some folks in our families or people in our communities, try to talk to each other. It is time to heed this call. You need to stay home if you cant at all stay home with your family. You need to follow the guidance that we provided and take it seriously so that we can protect our essential workers. Everyday matters, and as news will be breaking over the next 24 hours, i think that will becoming increasingly clear. Weve heard in the media about a childcare center. Weve heard now about a nursing home. You are seeing what is that Community Spread on upward sweep. So every day and everyone of us matters. I know its a lag time for each of us and understand this, and its kind of a two step forward one step back and it happens even among our own team, that hitting your head around this is hard. Each of us hears it at a different time. [inaudible] didnt matter what she said, but then Kevin Durrant is ill and all of a sudden the lightbulb went off. Its for real. You get real when that moment happened. If something jars it for you, but you go two steps forward and then youre like me driving to work going, this is a real book where are all the cars . It just goes like this. I dont care if your leaders, whether your mayors, citizens. We all get this and we kind of get it and that we forget. Im asking folks to really heed the message now because time is of the essence. Spring break, thats the question many have asked about. Come home. For those of you who have been out, then people, take this seriously. As dr. Birx told us at the president ial address today, young people are turning out from the data we had to be equally affected and hospitalized in large amounts. Over 30 hospitalizations hospitalizations are not under the the age of 55. Our average age, thats skewed from our twoyearold tour 91 error old to our 91yearold is 39 so you have to take this seriously and jeff to help us not spread this virus. For the rest of us that are a couple other things things want you to think about. First of all there is a lot of misinformation out there. Its vital that you go to our website and use trusted sources of information. Coronavirus. Ohio. Gov. There are a lot of scams out there. The attorney general mentioned in today so please Pay Attention to that and never give your information. Stigma is something that is also on my mind. Its been on my mind since the beginning. Remember, this virus begin as a zoonotic disease, from animal to human in china. That can happen anywhere. Viruses did not discriminate. They love us all equally and went to really think about this. Ive heard of things being said that are just not true and we all have to take this seriously and not spread that information misinformation. But also do want people to feel the statement of getting help. We now know the unemployment numbers, our lieutenant, will talk more and more about this in the days to come, all we are doing for vulnerable populations like the homeless and others, but also for all of us. The midohio food collective said on the show last night, and in the field forever, we cannot come just like pearl harbor or any war we cannot feel badly if we need help right now. There is help. Philanthropies and nonprofits to come to the table. They are doing this but all of us should not feel any sense of shame at getting a little help or helping each other out as neighbors. There are everyday heroes everywhere. We know that not all heroes wear capes. You will hear more stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. One of the things you can do now is donate blood if you are healthy. You can go to red cross blood. Org. Well have that on our coronavirus website. Or sometimes if its not red cross in your community it is your local blood center. That blood will be needed. You dont go when youre sick. Viruses are transmitted that way so we need blood supply and at some else folks can do. We need to have some grace with this. I constantly say, well get this about 80 right, this this is a moving train thats moving very quickly. We cannot linger on things like do have enough tests or dont we . At this point is a a time for action and 90 everyone to focus on following with the governor says and staying home and taking these actions as we go up on this curve. Asking for grace, even me, i know people are synchronous, i have little fierceness in me. We should just admit it. I even lose my temper as my kids and family will tell you. When pushed far enough. Were all asking for grace with each other in this time. We have got to keep planting that flag. My job is to keep pushing us forward and putting a stake in the ground and removing us forward and were all lagging and its going to be a little messy. We are inventing system that never existed before as we go, inventing solutions. We are inventing new swap techniques. We will keep inventing in ohio and keep moving that flag forward, and the rest of us will follow as best we can but now is the time to heed. Put that flag out, everyone. I thought that was a most wonderful suggestion by our first lady. I asked my husband to put ours out and it would be a little symbol to all of us of what we are doing. Thank you. Thank you, governor, dr. Acton, another great job as were discussing yesterday, kind of we always think of ways to explain things and qaeda said if you love someone, step away. But were not going to sing it. Were not going to sing it. Governor asked me to sit in on a call with the president and Vice President and some of the nations governors and lieutenant governors as we were getting a briefing. They did commit that there are working with the private sector and with some federal regulations being rolled back, a new supply of masks, tests and innovators. They are working hard to get those things, although reiterating what dr. Acton said, lets not get caught up on the testing. Lets focus on getting healthy. And getting treatment and all the things that she has been asking of us. One update. We did, ohio did of life with the u. S. Small Business Administration for our request to allow Small Businesses and not forprofits in ohio to apply for low interest longterm loans of up to 2 million to the sba Economic Injury disaster loan program. That request has been approved. It has been approved. The loans may be used by all ohio Small Businesses and not forprofits to pay for fixed that, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that cant be paid due to the disaster impact. Loan applications can be completed online at disaster loan dot sba. Gov ela. Disaster loan dot sba. Gov ela. Or by calling 186592955. 186592955. And the urge that you use the online portal and that will help the process move more quickly. I know the congressional delegation and use Senate Passed the family first Coronavirus Response act last night. The president signed it senator portman forwarded a couple of highlights that he wanted to make sure that people know that it will include free coronavirus testing for those who are ill, improve access to paid sick leave and paid family leave, provides additional Food Assistance to those who need it, enhances unemployment insurance, and in no more rain is very pleased about one piece in there that we asked for in a letter to the president maureen for a better share of fmap funding which will help us cope with the added costs of committing our services, our Vital Services to the coronavirus pandemic. Also included in this was the approval of the s. N. A. P. Waivers that we requested for Food Assistance. Additionally on unemployment, remember unemployment data file. Gov is the place that you can apply. We have had through monday or since monday we had an additional 111,000 claims through wednesday. So while other states systems have crashed, i want to commend the team, our tech team and her folks at od jf as for running a system where that has not happened in ohio. Well keep our fingers crossed it doesnt, but thats an incredibly important. I i knew on occasion have been dropped calls. The system is pretty over whelmed. More of the things that people want. Because of the excess demand thats why its not on the shelf. Its not that the supply chain has been disrupted. Its only if we go so fast. If we crowd the stores we create the problem for everybody else, but they you know, we do want to emphasize something about all the businesses that are open. Most of the businesses are open, frankly, are open because they need to be. And we ask every business that is open to care about your employees. You have to care about them. Theyre a vital link to the supply chain, a vital link to the services that people are counting on. Do everything that you can to make that workplace as healthy as you can possibly make it. To that critical work force. The people that are working in our Grocery Stores and doing things, thank you. You are part of the hero story of this. You are doing things that the rest of society counts on so for the entire work force out there, who is doing what we need to get through a difficult time, we thank you. And to the public, please respect them. Were all going through a difficult time, but these workers at the Grocery Stores, at the drug stores, at the places that you might frequent out of need, give them personal space. Gave them their six feet. Help make sure that youre protecting them and youre protecting yourself. This is super important that we do this. Were all in this together as we say time and time again, and as were out there as citizens, please make sure youre doing that. I was on a call today with several of the ceos of the banks across the state, they asked me to emphasize to you, stay calm. The Banking System is well. Your banks and Credit Unions are going to be there for you. They said that you can count on them. Theyre part of the Critical Infrastructure that we know we have to keep in place. And some of these banks, Credit Unions, and lenders have already started voluntary programs on deferrals for cars, mortgages, credit cards, call them. Ask them if they have Something Like this available for you if youre in need. They are they recognize that they have a responsibility in the system and theyre all taking it very seriously. On elections, secretary la rose asked me to emphasize this, that the solution that he is seeking is not a new election. Hes seeking to just merely extend the Voting Period out of a matter of safety and Health Benefit to the population to june the 2nd. So that means if you r absentee voted or voted early, youre not going to need to do that again. This is about extending that opportunity to the people that have not had that chance yet and we know that the courts and the legislature are going to work with senator larose to make sure that that happens. For employers on job training, we have at workforce. Ohio. Gov, we have a variety of ways to upskill during this time. When we come out of this, the Digital Economy will be even more powerful than it is now. And having tech skills are going to be really, really important. This is a time to upscale yourself. And the services are available. And work force. Ohio. Gov. And is that twitter site today, at the twitter site theyll put that up there work force. Ohio. Gov. And the next few days what about this, what about that. And they had this coming and when the guy standing behind me tells you, he tells me as soon as you know, this is a process that this is as transparent and open as we can possibly make it, the governor dewine doesnt make a decision and then, you know, wait a day to tell you. As soon as he knows what were doing, and hes gotten what he needs from his team, he tells you, and so know that youre getting the information as quickly as we can get it to you and appreciate the great work, like i said, that the people out there and the work force are doing to help keep our businesses and our Vital Services alive. Everybody stay safe, and we will carry on. Thank you. Just to follow up with john, before we get to you, jim. I also want to thank all of our workers who are out there making a difference, every single day. This is the feast of st. Joseph, the patron saint of workers, we thank you, thank you every single day what youre doing to feed us, clothe us, take care of us, medical and on and onment thank you very much, jim. Jim whiotv, this is a question for dr. Acton, if you see the broadcast, the newscasts, kids on the beaches in florida. First your reaction, secondly, knowing theyre going to return to ohio whats your prescription for them, their families and what we should be doing to keep us safe when they return here . Thats a so the first thing, you know, i have three children of my own and three children, we have an extended family, and so, the first thing im hoping, its not my children. So i know how youre feeling, parents. And we know that this is sinking in slowly. We have travelers coming back which had over 355 travelers at this point from other countries. We have the same advice and its on our website about returning, but what i need them to do is monitor, selfmonitor is the official term and that means to watch for the symptoms of coronavirus or covid19. I want them to be checking their temperature, seeing if they have a cough, a fever, any of the symptoms. I need them to stay home because i need all of you to stay home. If you absolutely can. If they do start to have some of the symptoms, i need them to talk to their primary care doctor and now, potentially through telemedicine, but to let someone know and theyll walk them through a history and you can include that travel, but the fact is, Community Spread is all over our country. Id really rather them not being close together and thats whats wrong with the beach. There are going to be people who go that might have a beach place or something and if theyre there with their immediate family because im talking about tribes now not necessarily your blood relatives, but that small group of people, less than 10, that you know, might be in your immediate sphere that youre kind of riding this out with, you know, if theyre out or youre out, you know, my husbands a runner, long time Cross Country coach teacher and he and the boys might go for a run and far apart and a hike if theres every a pause here, some of that is okay, but its that crowdedness, not having that physical distance and then mixing it up and of course and spreading across locality doesnt help. Come home, there are a lot of elderly folks and snow birds coming home as well, the same thing, come home and try not to expose other people. Same advice. Thank you. Thank you. Kevin landers. 10tv. I have two questions, one for the governor and one for dr. Acton. You had talked earlier dispelling rumors, and two reports that a drug for malaria may show promise for coronavirus, some people with type a blood are considered to be more high risk for coronavirus. So id like you to address the two issues. Then for the governor, you know, when you turn the lights out at the end of the day, do you wonder if youve done enough . For example, do you wish something you did today should have been done a week ago . And i think, for example, we still have daycares that are open and people are scratching their heads why those are still open. Thank you. So i get the easier one. You know, we will not have a vaccine for a while as everyone knows. Even though its going at record, amazing Science Fiction speeds, but there is some hope and there have been a lot of trials all over the world of promising drugs, certainly the antimalarias youve heard with a combination of antibiotic. There are also some other antivirals as ive mentioned before that are being tested and these are also in situations that are unusual causes, the fda can waive that a physician can waive Compassionate Care guidelines that allows them to try some things, in unusual circumstances last ditch efforts, so theres a lot of that going on. There is some study going on of the antivirals and well all like hope together that some of this will work. It will give us more tools in our tool belt. That said, where we are right now in the epidemic curve, the curve i told you, were on the upsweep and you know, we need to follow these same guidelines and thats not going to change for us. We have to focus remember, our testing is for the most high risk right now, hospital workers, front line workers, talk to your doctor, theyll talk to the hospital. They might be able to do that testing. Were reserving that, most of us will stay at home, but the 20 might need hospitalized, well use it for that. Well go back and circle around and right now getting our hospitals ready for what we know is coming and ill let the governor speak and on the blood, you know what . I havent looked at that and ill get back to you and have my team take a look at that. Thank you. Every night when i go to bed i think have we done enough . Even morning when i get up, i think have we done enough . All day long i think have we done enough and thats a question i ask my team every single day and i ask myself 24 hours a day. As far as the daycare, daycares well have more for you tomorrow, but many of the daycare numbers are going down fairly dramatically. People have taken our advice and have used their own judgment and have taken kids home. We are now in the process of determining how many of the kids who are left there represent parents who are vital to our health system, vital to our economy and those determinations are being made, but youre already seeing a dramatic drop in the number of kids in daycare and well have more for you tomorrow. I will expand it, your question. We are looking, as yourself said, the director talked about adult daycare and talked about con gra c congragate feeding. And as far as food, the feeding for elderly, thats ongoing, thats being moved away from that out into the home delivery. For those local agencies that have already done that, thank you, thank you, thank you, youre making those individuals safer and still providing that food. For those of you who have not got it done, please do it, we have to get this done. We want to provide the food, but we also need to get them away from that danger of being with so many other people. In the area of adult when were talking about not the feeding programs, but the adult daycare, we have people there who are have very, very different needs. Some have various, as said, some very, very significant needs and so, what we have to make sure is before we kick them out, that those needs are going to be made, met every single day. You also have the issue, as we know what is coming, to making sure that a nurse, ill say a single nurse, maybe have no one else in their home, shes got her mom. She takes care of her mom when shes there. Mom has many, many different needs during the day. Cant be left alone, so these are the calls that we have to make. We need that nurse, but we also want to get the mom in a particular setting so that she is not as at risk to herself and to others. So the whole process is how we move people out from here down to here while at the same time dont abandon them, and so, its a work in process, but its an excellent question. Well have more for you on that tomorrow. Thank you. Hi, governor, molly martinez, spectrum news. The governor of new york has suspended all mortgage payments amid this crisis. Is there any talk of doing that here in ohio . Well, weve certainly had discussions about everything. Again, these are items, possible items for the General Assembly next week. Thank you. Governor, jim province with the toledo blade. The blade is reporting theres a presumptive coronavirus death in maumee. Is this on your radar screen . How long before we know whether ohio has its first death. Yes, this is something thats currently under investigation. And i am aware of it, so, i will talk with everyone about that and again, we need to let the investigation at the local level, our disease detectives are doing a thorough look into this to make that confirmation. Its, as you said, presumptive. When we have more, ill tell you and i have to say to everyone, you know, this is real and this is why we want you to take it seriously. Were seeing all the symptoms, the basic sense that were moving up and this is accelerating. We knew this was going to happen. Weve always said we knew this. And you know, its heartbreaking. Every bit of this has been heartbreaking for the people that have it, the people that are in the hospital in icus, for people who, you know, are wanting to advocate for their parents in a home, but cant visit them. This is some of the hardest stuff were going to face and so, please heed our guidance. How long would the investigation take place . I dont think it will take much longer. And i was notified of that a few hours ago. Thank you. This is jackie borechard from the cincinnati inquirer. How close are we to a shelter in place order. It was reported today the illinois governor is considering making such a move in the coming days and some communities there are doing their own, but questioning whether thats effective given its not a statewide mandate . Well, first of all, weve already asked people to shelter in place if they can. Thats a term, other people use other terms. Just to put it bluntly, stay home. We ask people to stay home. Please stay home if you can. I talked to a friend of mine today and he called me up and he wanted to see how i was doing, i said how are you doing . He says, were home, were sheltered at home, my wife and i are. So many, many ohioans are doing that we need more and morrow e more ohioans to do that. Some of that is terminology. If you shelter in place youre still going to need police, firemen, need to eat. A lot of Different Things that are going to continue on in this state of 11. 7 million people, so, some of it is more terminology than anything else. We want people to shelter in place. We want them to stay home and so, again, i will renew that plea. If theres no reason for you to be out, a real good reason, please stay home. And let me Say Something to, we talked about the beaches and seeing people on the beach. Not all young people, dont want to say that, but article today i read, im sure you saw it, it looked at the number of young people who are in icu right now. People in their 20s, people in their 30s. So we should not think when we say that it is more deadly the older you get, that does not mean, that does not mean that somebody who gets this at a younger age is going to have an easy time at all. Weve got people who are reporting literally, the account i read, from the icu, and in talking about that. So, look, this spares no one and again, what i said yesterday, we have it within ourselves in making small decisions, seemingly small decisions to impact human life. We have it within ourselves to stop it from spreading from one human being to the other. It cant spread from one to the other unless we help it do that. Lets stop helping it, lets do what we need to do, lets protect ourselves and our families. Thank you. Hi, governor, andrew welsh with the associated press. I just want to chime in and thank you for these daily briefings. Its very helpful. You hinted at this a second ago with an item about mortgage payments. With the legislature coming back next week to deal with the coronavirus crisis, i was wondering, as specific as youre able, could you provide maybe your top three or four wish lists for what you would like the legislature to accomplish related to the crisis next week, if at all possible . Well, were going to well give you that list shortly. We dont i dont have it right now, but look, some of this is, you know, emergency power that we simply do not have, that our lawyers tell us we do not have. I dont think any of this is going to be a shock. If you look, i had the opportunity yesterday to talk with the speaker. We were also talking with the Senate President and were making this list available to the minorities leaders. So we will share that with you shortly. I want to add something about the mortgage question. Most mortgages are regulated federally and the federal Housing Finance authority yesterday set a moratorium, i believe, at 60 days for closures and up to 12 months of fo fo forebearan forebearance, most of the mortgage stuff is already underway and we believe that conversation is all moving in the right direction. Thank you. This is from abc 6 and fox 28. My question is for lt. Governor husted. First you said you spoke about the need for masks and ventilators, any sense how many wed get. And weve got questions from viewers, who might be eligible, how the rules are changed, how much money they could get now that theyre out of work. Can you clarify what it might look like Going Forward . People eligible for unemployment are fulltime workers recently relieved of their duties and need assistance, as a result of the coronavirus or whatever reason it might be, your business shut down and they can apply at unemployment. Ohio. Gov. Usually you have to wait a week, you do not have to wait a week to be eligible. Were looking at how we might address parttime employees. Right now the limit is you have to work at least 20 hours a week and make, i believe, its or you have to have worked 20 weeks and made up to 265 a week, were looking at those l limitations to see if we might accommodate that, and were asking the government with 1099 filers, who are in the work force and would not be eligible for unemployment. If you dont have a paid leave program and this person exhibiting signs, they would be eligible for this. What i talked about earlier passed in the legislation that the Senate Approved and President Trump signed today, we are were going to get the rules on that as soon as we can. Most of that will be administered through the Ohio Department of job and family services. As soon as we have that information well provide it for you on additional ways that people can access the services. The big piece on the president s briefing, that he provided was that there was a wave of n95 masks, am i correct that theyre going to make many of those, most are not used for surgical grade, theyre industrial grade, but theyve had a waiver so theres no liability and that will bring, i cant recall off the top of my head, but a substantial number that were not there before from the Construction Industry and things like that. And so, that will bring a lot of new masks and ppe equipment on the scene. The private sector, roesch and others that they get across the country as fast as they can and we just got a briefing on that, its happening. Im sure that they have a release on the details of what the numbers are. And you mentioned ventilators as well, is that right . They had a whole process that they were talking about with ventilators. I would encourage you to address that with the Administration Briefing numbers. They have release out on all that. Thank you. Adrian robbins, nbc4. My question for governor dewine from our sister station in cincinnati. Have you thought at all about closing the campus, large campuses like irs down in cincinnati where thousands of employees are continuing to work . We continue to look at different places, different opportunities to reduce where people are coming together. Again, whether its the irs or whoever it is. Were asking them to observe all the safety measures. We doesnt want any employee of the irs or anyplace else to be walking into a situation thats not good. Any of the workers who could work from home, we would certainly ask the federal government doing what were asking everybody else to do which is to let them work from home. All right. Thank you. Laura hancock, cleveland. Com. I have a question for the department of health. You guys discussed young people at the beach. We really dont know how many of these 119 people are sick in their 20s, 30s, 40s so on. So what is your ability to do that . Are you guys just stretched for resources . Laura, were putting out the demographic in detailed numbers as absolutely fast as we can, as you can imagine, were taking in quite a plethora of information. We still give that information at the county level. Local health departments, of which we have 113 are really leading the way in the press releases now. There are certain things that they will be coming to you with first and well be receiving that, but were receiving data now from private labs and hospital labs and our own labs, so some of that just takes a while to compile. Thank you. Thanks. And one line, we have roughly six hospitals in ohio that are testing and Cleveland Clinic and uh can do at least 600 maybe a thousand now a day. And do we have any i look at the National Testing situation in different states. Ohios got a lot of testing compared to smaller states, but i dont know, whats our rate of testing, do we know . You know, we have maximized the Testing Capacity that we have been given, as you know, and were very blessed to have some Pretty Amazing Health Care Systems and we did stand up our its been called drivethru, sounds erroneous, but we had with the doctors order testing. As you know, there has been a lack of swabs in some of the media that is actually the vi vile vial that you put it in. Even though we didnt have the capability. Were making corrections every day. And im going to try to put this on our website for were talking about testing right now and saving our testing capability for those highest risk folks, that will be our hospital and health care workers. Our hospitalized patients and those high risk patients that, you know, that 20 that are going to be really surging any second now on our hospitals. So, were doing that because we need to protect and know who we need to wear our limited ppe with and use that wisely. And then, also this front line responder, so the firefighters and police and e. M. S. And thats how were going to triage that. Well have that on our website. Remember, folks at home. Because i know this is scary and ive had to ask even the mayor, please, you know, we could talk about what we have. We have to fight the war we have with what we have and we will go back forward. And so, if youre at home and your doctor knows and does a history with you and tells you ride this out at home. Theres no difference in what theyre going to tell you to treat it, whether youre tested or not. Even if youre tested you might test negative because youre too early in your illness, so the lack of testing is not going to stop us from treating you well and treating your symptoms well. So, as i always say, we will tell you everything we know as we know it. Please go to our website, listen to your provider, and we will be mapping out our hospitals, our capability as we gather that. Were going to be hearing more and more in the days to come about our hospital capacity. Quite honestly, were inventing some Amazing Things as we go and therefore, well share it with you. Laura, as you know, we became as transparent as we are in a weird way, i owe you a thanks because saying that i was not being transparent, which was like, oh, everyone in my family has to say stop saying so much, but you know, because of that, it really led to our, this commitment weve made and thank you. Well, thank you for these briefings, thanks. Laura bishoff daily news. This is a question for dr. Acton, i was reading i am peer imperial college, super fun reading. The home isolation and social distancing need to be maintained for a vaccine which could be 18 months. Can you give us a realistic time frame how long do you think at that ohio is going to be in the situation were in. So, you know, i think that everyone definitely, if youre following at news at all. We need to realize that this is a long haul, but i think we have to take it as it comes because so much will evolve. If some of these drugs that were testing make a difference, that will be a new tool in our tool chest. So, youre going to see a take the best science, the n nonpharmocological, this will depend on so many different factors. And the other thing, youre going to watch china go through this right now. How do you exit that . How do you peel back those layers without creating a surge of infection . And i beg, you know, we have a lot of ideas. Ive been talking to a lot of scientists. Id love to be a part of conversation because im sure theyre going on all over the world right now, but i think as our testing this is where our testing, when it ramps up, will be involumable. Because what we invaluable. We need to do a Health Monitoring of our whole population and there are tests that can look back at blood. There are a lot of innovations and again, this is an unprecedented situation, so there will be some strategies that are going to help us walk out of this time period. So stay tuned on that. You know, i know when you hear words like 18 months, that just adds a layer of impossibility. This is the art of the possible. And from the found, doug kyler had a beautiful poster i keep with me, the art of the possible and theres so much possibility in what people are discovering right now. Nothing is for sure and everything we do every day makes a difference and that changes that curve. Thank you. Governor, im told i have the last question, andy, Ohio Public Radio and state health news bureau. There are private quote, unquote, nonessential businesses that say they cannot close until you tell them to close. Do you see that to be the case . Or is it on them . Is it an individuals responsibility to close if they think they should . Look, were happy to talk to any company like that. We have, you know, had situations in the past when we started through this, some of the early decisions, we were told that, you know, we would tell somebody to close and they said, well, you have to order us to close. And they had some legal reasons, insurance reasons, other reasons, so were open to certainly to discussion. I mean, the ultimate goal here is to keep people safe and if that fits in with keeping people safe, well, were happy to talk with them. Thank you. Thanks, andy. Thank you, everybody, well see you all tomorrow. Thank you very much. Its easy to follow the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak at cspan. Org coronavirus. Track the spread throughout the u. S. And world with interactive maps and charts. Watch briefings and hearings with Public Health specialists anytime unfiltered at cspan. Com coronavirus. This weekend on book tv. Saturday night, the book free sentoya, i had people teaching me that my body was a commodity, and a means for men to expect things in return for my companionship and things of that nature. And i was told that it was around pleasing a man in some form. And American Enterprise Institute Scholar michael strain, the American Dream is not dead. No matter what specific favor of the American Dream youre interested in and what your particular definition is. I think that everybodys definition involves a large economic component. Sunday afternoon, jennifer ste steinhaur with her book the first. You let your experience and the newness of that, you let that unfold openly. I dont think that people tried to in fact a badge of honor not to have been in politics especially in washington and let your newness to it and frankly, your fresh opinions on how things should be done, even when it doesnt work out in your favor. Watch book tv this weekend on cspan2. Up next, louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards giving an update on the coronavirus outbreak in his state. Then more on the virus with senate floor