When spring comes in. This is the first day of spring. Spring is a time that of renewal, rebirth, always a time of hope. 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 we know that spring will come. Spring will come to ohio and across this country and it reminds us of how good life is, and the importance of all of us to do everything we can to get through this and to move forward. There will be a new day coming. And if dr. Acton was right, we may see a baby boom. See a lot of babies born. Thans nothing more joyful the birth of a child. So we have a lot to look forward to. I want to thank all my fellow citizens in ohio. For what they are doing. Because it truly is a patriotic act, individual things that 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, but it was a pretty good headline. Indicationetty good of what ohioans and americans are doing across our country. Good deeds galore. I want to thank everyone who has been doing good deeds, we have a lot of us to do, but thank you so much for doing that. My friend, albert ratner, who is in his 90s, remarkable man, called me last night and he said, you know mike, when you are trying to grasp how to explain this to people, what we are going through, what lies ahead, he said, you might use pearl harbor as an example. He said we were attacked, we rallied, we fought back, it took a while. And it is really true. We had been attacked. We had 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. We are asking people to make the sacrifice, dont go on that spring break, dont get on that airplane, dont do all the things 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, and we have been attacked by this virus, we have to pull together. Ultimately, it is 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 ohioan. When i came home last night, fran said you know, when we have thingss, 9 11, different that have gone on throughout history, americans have put out their flag. To really show unity, to show that we will not be pushed aside, we will not be conquered, we will be defiant. And so im asking today, all ohioans to put their flag up. Fly that flag every single day. If you have an ohio flag, fly that. But most people have an american flag. Put that flag out. Out,tells me she put ours on our front porch. Dr. Actin said her husband just put their flag out. So 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 what is 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 and whatie oconnell, the chief justice will do is talk about the judiciary, talk about the courts, coequal branch of government and she will then take questions from the news media. I would just ask that the questions be confined to the chief and to the issues obviously in regards to the courts and the criminal justice system. We have people throughout the state who worked very hard. Whether it is job prosecutors, whether it is courts, and we could go on and on. Judges and everybody. Chief, i will ask you to come up and say some words and give a report to the people of the state of ohio. Chief, thank you very much. Chief Justice Oconnor thank you. Thank you very much, governor. Thank you for the invitation to participate this afternoon. I want to thank you 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 an unprecedented time. A time when the judiciary of ohio as well as the bar, the state and local leaders must come together to guarantee the vital and continued operation of the states traditional system and the publics access to justice. I both commend and thank ohios judiciary for taking action, issuing orders, and considering the health and safety of the staff. As well as their 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 state judicial leadership to discuss the dish areas to this pandemic. After that meeting, i sent a email to all judges in ohio. In the meeting and email, i emphasized several key points that i want to highlight today. Be open to address emergency and time sensitive matters. Indiscriminate closures of the courts with no plan for these issues is not an option. Judges across each county must cooperate amongst themselves to issue orders and establish procedures necessary to continue essential Court Functions in this rapidly developing situation, and in light of the further directives of governor dewine and health officials. They need for uniform buyin and consistency among judges is paramount. Further, judges need to consult and collaborate with local plan, toto develop a ensure an essential access to the courts that it will continue. This collaborative collaboration needs to include all stakeholders, clerks of court, 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 courts offices 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 firm nonessential purposes. Ive asked judges to prioritize their workload, to reduce the need for jury pools and the level of Public Traffic in courthouses. I encourage them to maximize technology and to modify their orders to reduce the need for facetoface interaction. I urge them to consider lowering bonds and using summons instead of arrest to help minimize jail populations. I noted some creative local solutions to these problems and urged courts to use their authority and to their initiative to employ similar solutions. Courts all over the state have responded by issuing orders that that. T i might add that the website of the ohio judicial conference which can be accessed from our sc. Ohio. Gov contains the orders issued by the local courts. You will know the response by our judiciary. For example, courts and Cuyahoga County have suspended all non all criminal injury trials are they have implemented a jury call in systems or jurors would not have to appear unnecessarily. Also, when possible, hearings are being condemned being conducted by video to reduce persontoperson contact. Foreclosure actions and sheriff sales are stayed for 60 days. This will ensure that individuals are not forced out of their home during the Public Health crisis. County has leveraged their existing Statutory Authority under the ohio revised code to extend pd extend speedy trial times on the grounds of the covers emergency declaration. Ohio revisedised, code 2945. 72 states the time within which an accused may be brought to trial or in the case of a felony to plumbing airy hearing and trials may be extended during the period for the period of any continuance granted on the accused motion and the period of any reasonable continuance granted other than an accused motion. This allows for continuances among reasonable grounds. Judges can and should employ the provision where appropriate and issue orders, detailing the reasonable grounds for the continuance. Franklin county Municipal Court has authorized the use of recognizance bonds for nonviolent misdemeanors and traffic cases. There is still more work to be done. 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 alternately alternate methods for nonessential court appearances. Ensure the Clerks Office remains opened and are accessible to the public. Temporarily stay appropriate evictions and foreclosure proceedings. Temporarily refrain from issuing warrants for failure to appear for traffic violations, minor misdemeanor, and nonviolent misdemeanor offenses. Remote ando provide yet meaningful Treatment Options for those with suss a 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 release incarcerated individuals who are in 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 measures consistent with the governors guidance to reduce risk, the court remains open. We have essential staff performing their duties on and offsite, we will continue to accept case filings, provide support for judges for local court staff, and for attorneys. Localy, i understand many courts lack the technology and resources needed to implement many of the suggestions. The supreme demand, 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 funding on an emergency basis, we can assist the local courts in a quick implementation of videoconferencing for arraignments and other conferencing means. I expect to announce the process for those grants tomorrow. We have decided on an amount of 4 million that will be taken from my budget and dispersed to the local courts for this purpose. Before i take your questions, i would like to say i have personally been in touch with judges, the bar associations leadership, and in constant conversation with the director of the ohio judicial conference, paul pfeiffer. 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. Reporter kevin landers. Can you explain a little bit more about releasing prisoners who are in the highrisk risk category of attracting the virus . Thank you. Chief Justice Oconnor there obviously are many different ages and Health Conditions of prisoners in our jails. An assessment should be done to determine whether or not they can safely be released, given the fact of their age and may be other Health Conditions that they might have that they have to deal with. This is twofold. Safeguard the folks that are 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 who run the jails. But this is something ive asked them to consider. Reporter this is Molly Martinez with spectrum news. Im wondering if theres any push to clear out lowlevel offenders and make more room in the prisons during this pandemic . Gov. Dewine i dont speak chief Justice Oconnor i dont speak for the prisons, i speak for the jails when i make this recommendation. Reporter will there be leniency in the jails and who is incarcerated . Chief Justice Oconnor i mentioned the judges should and theheir bail circumstances of which they have people detained in the jails. And prioritize releases based on that. Reporter thank you. Reporter jim province with the toledo blade. There were two justices who have recused themselves from the election day lawsuit. Could you tell us how you will replace them in considering this case . And if you can, can you comment on the fact that you are being sued over your election day morning decision . Chief Justice Oconnor im not going to comment on pending cases. I will tell you in general, when cases are not orally argued, there is no need for a visiting judge to sit on a case. We need four justices to create a majority as you well know. And as long as we have four justices that are in unison, there is no need to deal with the fact that we dont have four justices. If we did have a problem with four justices, there would be in agreement, then there would be a need to supplement with visiting judges. But not at this time. Reporter thank you. Andrew welsh, with the associated press. In terms of the recommendations that you have made that you would like to see judges and courts undertake, can you explain whether you have the ability to ramp that up at all and make a judicial order . Depending on your answer to that, is that something you would take advantage . Instead of making recommendations, do you have any way to issue a directive, an order to judges to actually do these things . Chief Justice Oconnor thank you for that question. There are two different types of judicial systems in the 50 states we have in our country. One is called a unified system. And one is what we have here in ohio which is a nonunified system. 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 other 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 a 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 that is my interpretation of rule 14 at this time. When i mentioned that we are looking at legislation, that is exactly what we are looking at. To create legislation that would under very, very limited and specialized circumstances, such as what we are experiencing here, should there be a need, the opportunity for the chief justice to make those types of orders that would be binding on the judiciary. Reporter real quickly, the legislature is meeting next week. Are you looking at fixing that quickly when you talk about that legislation . Chief Justice Oconnor in an ideal world, that is the way it would happen. We are not in an ideal world so we will see. Reporter thanks. Reporter this is jakes ackerman. I wanted to talk about your decision against any moratorium on evictions. Is it prudent to allow the eviction process to continue in this pandemic . Chief Justice Oconnor would you repeat your question . Reporter i thought you said there is no more moratorium on evictions. Could you clarify that and is it prudent to allow the eviction process to continue . Chief Justice Oconnor that is an interesting question. Most people think evictions are nonpayments of your rent or whatever the situation. There are certain types of evictions that may be, Domestic Violence and trying to get somebody evicted from the home because they present a danger to the other members living in that home. It is up to the courts to deal with that. And to figure out yes, if there is an eviction that is in process or going they could have a moratorium on filing of evictions. And foreclosures in the same way. They can do that. Then again, they have to have the flexibility that if someone needs to be removed through the eviction process, because they are a Domestic Violence perpetrator, that should be allowable on the local courts judgment and their initiative. Ohio has 88 different counties, over 700 judges, over 350 courts in this state. And we are not, as i said, a unified state. But there is a reason i think it may be that. Is because we have such a variety of communities and Court Systems and resources. I am in favor of the solutions being from the locals and implemented by the local courts and local Community Leaders and officials, of course. Resortst resort, i would to the contents of the legislation i just described. The different mayors in state that im aware of have urged that evictions be stayed, that any utilities be reinstated, or the process to terminate be suspended. Andthose are good practices those are practices that i definitely would urge. Reporter thank you. Reporter hello, chief justice. Im told im your last question today. Apparently Hamilton County judge has asked you to issue a uniform order, uniformed guidance in keeping with your power to do all things necessary to ensure the orderly and Efficient Administration of justice. And 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 . Chief Justice Oconnor would you repeat what the judge from Hamilton County for what purpose . Reporter based on a cleveland. Com article, apparently they are quoting him. He is asking you to issue a uniform order for all courts based on your power 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 you have addressed ohio being nonuniform. I didnt hear you address that precise phrase. I dont know where it appears right now. And the related question again, what equal protection concerns are there for jurors and witnesses in different counties under different covid19 orders . Chief Justice Oconnor if there was a need, if our local judges and local leadership were not addressing the issues that presented themselves, maybe i would have to take a look at intervening in some way. But thats not the case we have here today. Orders, youheres 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. And there is many, many of these measures that are taken in the courts to address this. And they 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 the 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, there is where your authority is and that is how those trials can be continued. Yes, and as the mind,s chief legal doesnt work and addressing the equal protection question between counties . Chief Justice Oconnor well, im not going to address an equal protection question. There is not one before us. Was, i would have to consult with my colleagues because it would be a case in front of us and i dont speculate on cases, either when they are being filed or when they are potentially. With that, if there are no other questions, thank you very much. Gov. Dewine chief, thank you very much. Points. Few everyone, andre we have talked to everybody that would know about this, that the Grocery Supply chain is doing well. So you dont have to think the food is going to run out in the grocery store. I know people have been concerned. In buying a number of items. But things are still moving forward. Allbakery is still going, the transportation is still going, so everything is fine. And that certainly will all be a let me say that the illegal internet cafes as of right now, we are closing them at if you think your internet cafe is illegal, it is close as well. We have received complaints from local officials that we have people gathering their we areng there, so issuing an order to that effect. The concern is always the same. A number of people coming together. We have 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. That all local governments get ready to do that. They needed to comply and make sure that the press is notified, make sure that not only is the person notified, but they have access to watch, see what is going on. It is important that during this time, the confidence remain strong, but we also know that gathering people together is not something that we would like to see. The General Assembly will address this, i believe next week. Attentionl everyones to a directive from the puco that came out last week and because of all the other things going on, it may not have been as widely reported as possible. I want to emphasize this. They issued a moratorium in regard to electric and gas disconnects. Being. T for the time that runs through may 1. That might be addressed in the future. I want to make that clear. There has been concerns and people have asked me about that. Requests ee some i know dr. Acton will talk about this, but the requests are, what we tell families who are thinking about going on their spring break . What we tell people who are already on their spring break and coming back from florida . We will start with those coming back from florida or anywhere else. We welcome you, but the most do, dr. Actonto will address this, but if you have been traveling, please stay in your home. Make sure you are not in contact with people outside your family that lives in that home. Hat is the most prudent thing we had an example yesterday of someone who came back from spring break, was in florida, and that did not and the way we wanted it to end. About as anyone thinking traveling, please reconsider that. It is a high risk proposition and we would hope that you would not do that. I gotmas knight home last night, one of the first things fran said to me before i announced that people should be getting thermometers, i might want to check and see if those thermometers are available. It is true, i have gotten other calls. We know they are in short supply. Try to put that in context. Was i was trying to say that employers that continue to work and we have essential industries that must continue we would ask them to be extremely careful with their employees, the benefit of the employees, the benefit of everyone. Sanitation,tra doing all the things that you need to do, taking temperature was one suggestion, but i know thermometers are hard to get. Idea to aska good your employees, did you take your temperature at home . For those who have one. Ask about how well the employees are feeling. Clean, disinfect. Time,e say all the separation. Try to observe in the workplace the same separation that we are trying to observe everywhere else. Small decisions that each one of us makes every day will determine how well we do and whether our health or system can hold up our Health Care System can hold up what is coming ahead. Every day, i get rumors and texts at emails and calls, so let me do my Daily National down. Rumor put the National Guard is not involved in carrying weapons. You may see them carry the groceries. They are helping at food banks. You are going to see the guard involved in transport, involved in doing things that they can do with their equipment when there is any change in that, if there is any change, we will let everyone know. Everyone make sure abouttands, rumors martial law, quarantining everybody and their home, none of those are true. Governor, it is important that i put that down. Aware that made there are scam artists and it is speakable it is despicable. Every time there is a crisis, after a tornado or example, there is always someone trying to rip somebody off. , i aml number of people sure they are on the internet, they may not even live we dont know where they live. Someone is on the internet trying to get your personal data. Do not give them your personal data. Our same basic rules that we have had in the past. I am going to introduce several members of our cabinet. Let me start with marine corps marine corp. Rent. She is our director of medicaid. Incrediblyn an compassionate, dedicated Public Servant for 30 years. The moston some of vulnerable populations that we have. Department, was a significant department. She has a nursing degree from case western. After nursing school, she moved to cleveland and has lived in ohio since that time. Get my stuff out of your way. Thank you, governor. I am the director of the Ohio Department of medicaid. Medicaid is a Health Care Program that serves 3 million ohioans, 1. 2 million of whom are children, and that includes more georgia 10,000 ohioans who are over 55. We support and care for ohioans in all matters of Health Care Environment and community environments, including 60,000 older hawaii wins who are ohioans. More than 50,000 ohioans who are served in ohios nursing facilities. Andhave heard the governor dr. Sadie in recent weeks that dr. Acton is the doctor for ohio. Publices care of the 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. The governor is issuing an executive order that will authorize emergency rules that access to medical and Behavioral Health Services Using telehealth. I want to talk about what that means and why that is important. Telehealth services includes not only fancy video capacity that we know we have in some of our Wonderful Health care facilities and practitioners, but also includes simple things like telephone calls, land lines, face, and the use of simple smartphones. Today, we are expanding the ability to access Medicaid Services to all of those venues. Or the patients that you serve can be cared for or can contact you from their home, 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. By telehealth or 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. If you are an individual and you have not been site up or cared for with a primary care doctor, you can do that now. You can do it from your home and in these simple manners and be able to get the kind of consultation or reassurance that you need. Expanded it so that there are no the mentations on practitioners no limitations on practitioners or sites where a patient can be consulted. It includes professional physician groups, health centers, rural health centers, ambulatory health clinics, hospitals, Emergency Rooms, and other community Behavioral Health centers. It is not limited to just physicians and at backs advanced factors professionals. Includes physicians, psychologists, nurse specialists, independent social workers, chemical dependency counselors, other kinds of supervised practitioners, audiologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech and language therapists, and practitioners who serve our children through our Medicaid School program. Asre as dietitians 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 a valuation of a recorded video or image of something on your body that you want your practitioner to look at. Online digital evaluation and management services. Remote monitoring of physiologic parameters such as heart rate, electric cardio graph meetings that are practitioner can check remotely and through these mechanisms. Certain occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech language, and other therapies. As well as medical attrition provided by a dietitian. In addition to these health care services, Behavioral Health is another important component of has that the governor talked about in recent days. The department of Mental Health and Addiction Services is coordinating with us to a tasknt a similar coordinating with us to expand a similar likeincludes things treatment, counseling, crisis services, in whole behavioral therapy for children, psychosocial rehab, peer recovery, and other kinds of unaffiliated services. I want to take us back to the basics for a moment. Servicesthis array of medical and Behavioral Health to be done remotely or through phone or video is an important way for us to take pressure off of Emergency Rooms at hospitals while allowing ohioans to be able to continue to receive good quality care and not have to leave their home to do that. There is difficulty with access thisrtain remote areas, so is a perfect time for us to be able to make new and better inroads to provide services in those areas of the state. Most importantly, it allows us to protect families and health and Behavioral Health practitioners from contracting or spreading the virus. While these are important rules as it 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, and from my conversations with them, private Insurance Companies are also following in this path. The are taking our lead and beginning to expand Telehealth Services in other ways. So it is not limited to our service. It is very helpful with this covert crisis, in fact it is a necessity, but necessity is the mother of invention. I would offer to do today that this is not only helpful in our crisis, but a way for us in our Health Care System to leapfrog forward, to take advantage of crisis and begin to provide health care in a different way that will be satisfying and more accessible and reachable too many ohioans. I want to thank the ohio professional boards who worked with us, counseling and social work, marriage and family therapist boards, speech and hearing board, medical board, who worked to revise and work at their requirements so that these requirements would align and practitioners would be able to take full advantage of the flexibility. We are also pleased to have the centers for medicare and Medicaid Services and other federal agencies who are making changes in their policies that are enabling us to do this in a broader and widespread way. Saying,t, i close by while we are all dealing with the events associated with this crisis, it is still very important that people continue to be in touch with their primary care doctor at this is a new opportunity for practitioners and consumers that we hope you will feel you can take advantage of. Gov. Dewine my director of the department of aging, an important department. She worked for me at 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. Valley,rom the mahoney she is from youngstown. That you, governor. As director of ohio state unit of aging, i have the opportunity to represent 2. 8 million older ohioans and for those who may not be aware, we have the sixth largest older Adult Population within the nation. Within our department, we have responsibility for many programs, policies, services that impact older ohioans. Olderent focused on adults since this covid19 occurrence has hit our state. We have been paying attention and really locked in that there has been a lot of attention on older adult because we know they are one of the highrisk populations during this time. Much of our discussion has been around our nursing facility. I would like to give you a quick snapshot of what this means, the impact of covid19 for older withinacross the state our facilities as well as within our communities. Nursing homes receive a lot of attention because we know that older adults are at risk and because we know this is a target site. A congregate they train for this situation every day. They know how to apply for cautions and know how to bring calm and face tough decisions. Our job has been to listen to them and learn what we can do to support them. Help them in this path roaching and fastmoving we have helped by providing guidance. We also moved to the continuum and limited and restricted his attention in our Nursing Homes and longterm care facilities. We help bite monitoring the consistency of the delivery of needed supplies of the facility and attracting the available workforce to ensure that residents are able to get the care that they need. Special teamd a focusing on covid19 and how we will respond within our nursing facility. Have that we are keeping our eyes on, our senior congregate housings. Have tens of thousands of older adults in congo get settings. Many of them residing in our our portable housing communities. Many live independently, they are only able to do so with the help of Different Service providers. To seestrategizing now how we can continue to provide Services Within these settings while minimizing opportunities for congregation. Other Vital Services that we need to have discussion about and for people to have appreciation on in terms of decisions we have to make our Senior Centers and adult day centers. As central hubs for many people to receive support, meals, and in some cases basic supervision. But these are also sites where people have to congregate. Individuals that are using these sites or families using these sites, we recognize the importance of them and how they provide a Necessary Service for your loved ones. But i would encourage you to think of alternative ways that we can provide these services. Within our department, we are looking at how we can begin to transfer those meals that people get encumbered at sites theyed at sites so dont have to worry about not having daniel. We are moving at a rapid pace of making some important decisions on essential services. We have to appreciate that as many people who congregate now will be at home, we have to buy their way to provide those services to meet those needs and home settings. Will be anthere expenditure on need for home delivered meals. We will have needs in terms of essential services such as personal care. Services where people help individuals with basic needs such as changing them, helping them get up, helping them to beta when they needed. In some cases feeding individuals. Withinave to be prepared our facilities but also outside of our facilities so that we can provide people with the basic things that they need. And with that, some of the decisions that we have to make, the things we have to contemplate, or the services we can offer, but also being able to provide support for the workforce that will be needed to provide these critical and basic things for these families. I would like to say that if we continue to contemplate these things, as we continue to work with our sister agencies to help us through these challenging times, times that we know we can make it through, we are energized by the local energizeds and i am i think it is important for you to know and understand that the aging network is a sophisticated and well operated and much or network and while we will be challenged to do this, we know that we are up to the task. Weibel have to call upon the support of others, we will ask for support from our federal partners, state department, and local partners. If you are wondering what can you do, i will leave you i will give you a plug on what i need from you. So we can get through this together. One thing, we have heard a lot about distancing and i heard my colleagues say the other day that it is important for us to talk more about physical distancing, not social distancing. Video ifne up, use you can, but check on your older loved ones. Ask them how they are feeling, are they eating, do they have the things they need . Offer to go to the store for them and run errands for them if you are able to do so. If you are able to pick up medication for them, please do so. If you have things that can help them in terms of entertainment, i would ask you to provide them with those things. Them, i wouldsit commont we use our basic sense. Ahead,ur hands, check make smart decisions before we make a decision entering someones home. Questions, always go to the website, coronavirus. Ohio. Gov. We have frontline support through our area agency on aging network. Every county can access one every county can access one. Just know that you have a Strong Network in ohio. You have a dedicated network in ohio. We have already made Great Strides in being able to do business differently so that we can take care of the individuals within the facilities and those also outside of the facilities. Thank you. Good afternoon. To my colleagues, who do amazing work every day even before this began, it is an honor to work with them. Numbers. Art with our have this afternoon, we 119 confirmed cases with an ls onset range of february 7 through march 18. At 43 of those cases hospitalizations. The Health Care System is top of mind for me right now. We have 24 counties accounted for on that list. That list is growing as well. Everyone who is heeding the urgent call by our governor and Lieutenant Governor and following everything that we asked. We know this is a difficult time. Said, collins recently from the nih, we are definitely on the upslope out. It is urgent for those of you, and we know folks and families or people in our communities, try to talk to each other. This call. To heed you need to stay home if you can stay home with your family, you need to follow the guidance we have provided and take it seriously so that we can protect our essential workers. Matters and as news will be breaking over the next 24 hours, that will become increasingly clear. We have heard about a childcare center, we have heard about a nursing home. That Community Spread on the upward sweep. Every day and every one of us matters. I know it is a black tie for a lot of us and it is a two steps forward and one step back, it happens even amongst our own team. Getting your head around this is hard. Each of us hears it at different times. A son who is 26, i did not matter what she said, but then kevin is ill and the lightbulb went off. It is for real. You get real when that moment happens. Forward and you are like me driving to work toward, this is not real, but where are the cars . It goes like this. I dont care whether you are leaders, buyers, citizens, we all get this and we get it and then forget. Heed theng folks to message because time is of the essence. Spring break, that is a question many have asked about. For those who have been out, young people, take this seriously. Dr. Birx told us at the president ial address today, young people are able to be hospitalized in large europe. 38 of hospitalizations are under the age of 55. Our average age thats cute from our twoyearold to our 91yearold, is 49 years. Young people are getting ill. You have to take a seriously at you have to help us not spread this virus. Of us, there are other things i want you to think about. There is a lot of misinformation out there. It is vital that you go to our website at use trusted sources of information. Oronavirus. Ohio. Gov there are a lot of scams out there. Please Pay Attention to that and never give your information. Stigma is something that is on my mind. It has been on my mind since the beginning. As a diseasegan that went from animal to human, that can happen anywhere. ,iruses do not discriminate they love us all equally at we have to think about this. Things beingof said about her not true at we have to take this seriously do not spread thats what up misinformation. Not spread that sort of misinformation. Our tenant governor will talk more about this, all we are doing for vulnerable populations like the homeless and others, but also for all of us. But have a shoving midohio food collective said last night, just like pearl harbor, we cannot feel badly if we need help right now. Philanthropies and nonprofits are coming to the table, they are doing this, but we should not feel any sense of shame of getting help or helping each other as neighbors. There are everyday heroes everywhere. We know that not all heroes wear caves. You will hear more stories about ordinary people doing extra ordinary things. One of the things you can do is donate blood if you are healthy. You can go to red cross blood. Org. If it is not red cross in your community, it is your local blood center. That blood will be needed. You dont go when you are sick, viruses are not transmitted that way, we will lead the blood supply. That is Something Else folks can do. We need to have grace with this. I causally say that we will get this 80 right. This is a moving train that is moving quickly. We cannot linger on things like to be have enough tests. At this point, it is a time for action. To focus onone following what the governor says an estate in and taking these actions as we go up on this curve. Asking for grace. I even lose my temper as my kids and family will tell you when push for an up at br asking for grace and we are asking for grace in this time. Usjob is to keep pushing forward and put it at stake in the ground and removing us forward and it will be messy. As we go inventing solutions, we are inventing new swap techniques, we will keep inventing in ohio at moving that flag forward and the rest of us will follow as best we can. , putow is the time to heed it that flag out, i thought that was a wonderful suggestion. I asked my husband to put ours out and it will be a symbol to all of us of what we are doing. Thank you. Thank you, governor. Dr. Acton, another great job. As were discussing yesterday, we think of ways to explain things and if you love someone, step away. [laughter] we are not going to sing at. Sing it. The governor asked me to sit in on a call with the president and Vice President and some of the nations governors and tenant lieutenant and governors as we were getting a briefing, they did commit that or they are working with the private sectors and federal regulations being rolled back, a new supply of masks, tests, and ventilators. They are working hard to get those things, although lets not get caught up in the test piece. Lets focus on getting healthy. And all thetment things she has been asking about. Update, ohio did apply with the u. S. Small Business Administration for a request to allow Small Businesses and notforprofit to apply for lowinterest longterm loans of up to 2 million the fda Economic Injury disaster. Bone program. That request has been approved loan program. That request has been approved. The loads may be used by ohio Small Businesses and notforprofits to pay for payroll, accounts payable, and other bills that cannot be paid for due to the disaster impact. Loan applications can be disaster online at pla. A. Gov pla disasterloan. Sba. Gov ela. They urge that you use the online portal as that will help the process move more quickly. I know that the congressional delegation and u. S. Senate passed the familys first Coronavirus Response act last portman afforded a couple of highlights he wanted to make sure people know that it will include free coronavirus , ing for those who rl those who are ill, paid family leave, additional Food Assistance for those who need it, enhances unemployment maureene, and i know corcoran is pleased about one , for ahat we asked for better federal share of funding which will help us cope with the added costs of committing our services to the coronavirus pandemic. Also included was the approval of the snap waivers that we required requested for Food Assistance. Unemployment, are employed. Ohio. Gov is the place you can unemployment. Ohio. Gov is the place you can apply. Since monday, we have had 111,000 claims through wednesday. systems haveates crashed, i want to commend the fs ford folks at obj running a system where that has not happened in ohio. Is incredibly important. I do on occasion there have been dropped calls, the system is overwhelmed. We appreciate everybodys effort. The governor touched on this earlier about the supply chain. I was in discussions with Grocery Stores this morning. They want to emphasize that the supply chain is intact. They are producing just as much bread advice and everything as they always have, in some cases want,f the things people but because of the excess demand, that is why you dont see it on the shelves. It is not that the supply chain has been disrupted, it is that they can only go so fast and if we grab the stores, we create if we crowded the stores, we create the problem for everyone else. Something. Emphasize all the businesses that are open, most of the businesses that are open are open because they need to be. We ask every business that is open to care about your employees. You have to care about them. They are a vital link to the supply chain, to the Services People are counting on. Do everything you can to make that workplace as healthy as you can make it. To that workforce, the people working in our Grocery Stores and doing the things, thank you. You are part of the hero story of this. You are doing things that the rest of society counts on so the entire workforce who is doing what we need to get through a difficult time, we thank you. To the public, please respect them. We are going through a difficult time, but these workers at the Grocery Stores, at the drugstores, places you might frequent out and need, give them personal space. Give them their six feet. Help make sure you are protecting them and yourself. This is important that we do this. We are in this together. As we say time and time again, as we are out there as citizens, make sure you are doing that. I was on a call today with several of the ceos of bangs across the state. They asked me to emphasize to you, stay calm. The Banking System is well. Your bangs and Credit Unions are going to be there for you. They said you can count on them. They are part of the Critical Infrastructure that we have to keep in place. Some of these banks, Credit Unions, and lenders have already started voluntary programs on mortgages,or cars, credit cards, call them and ask if they have Something Like this are available for you are in need. Aey recognize that they have responsibility in this system and they are taking it seriously. Elections, the secretary asked me to emphasize this. He is seekingion is not a new election, he is seeking to merely extend the voting. Then that extend the voting to june 2. If you already voted early, you are not going to need to do it again. This is about extending that opportunity to the people who have not had that cant yet and we know that the courts and legislature are going to work with senator larose to make sure that that happens. Training,ers on job we have at workforce. Ohio. Gov a list of a variety of ways you upskill. Le when we come out of this, the Digital Economy will be more powerful than it is now. Having tech skills is going to be important. This is a time to upskill yourself. Use that for employers, for citizens, these services are available at workforce. Ohio. Gov. At our twitter site, we will put those links up there for you. Is workforce. Ohio. Gov. Calls over the past few days that say, what about this, what about that, when will you give us a heads up that this is coming . Up when theheads guy standing behind me tells you. He tells you as soon as we know. This is a process that is as transparent and open as we can make it. Avernor dewine does not make decision and then wait a day to tell you. As soon as he knows what we are doing and he has gotten what he needs from his team, he tells you. So we know that you are getting the information as quickly as we can get it to you. Work that the great the people out there and the workforce are doing to help keep our businesses and Vital Services alive. Everybody, stay safe. We will carry on. Thank you. Up before wellow get to jim, i want to thank our workers who are making a difference every day. This is the feast of st. Joseph, the patron saint of workers. We thank you. We thank you for what you are doing every day to feed us, to clothe us, to take care of us, medical, police, on and on. Thank you very much. This is a question for dr. Acton. If you see the news broadcast, the pictures of kids on beaches on florida. Towing that the act or return to ohio, what is your prescription for them and their families . What should we be doing to keep us safe when they return . Thing, i the first have children of my own, we have an extended family. The first thing i am helping im hoping, it is not my children. This is sinking and slowly. Have 355 travelers at this point from other countries. We have the same advice on our website returning. What i need them to do is monitor self monitor is the official term. Watch for the symptoms of coronavirus. I want them to be checking the temperature, seeing if they have a cough, a fever, any other symptoms. I need them to stay home because i did all of you to stay home. If you can. If they start to have some of the symptoms, i need them to talk to their primary care doctor and potentially through telemedicine to let someone know who will walk them through a history and you can include that travel. The fact is that Community Spread is all over our country. I would rather them not because together and that is what is wrong with the beach. There will be people who go that maybe have a beach place or something at if they are there with their immediate family ive talking about tribes now, that small group of people, less than 10, that might be at your immediate sphere that you are writing this out with, if you are out my husband is a crosscountry coach, he added the boys might go for a run. We might go for a hike. Some of that is ok. It is the crowdedness, that physical distance, then spreading does not help. That are a lot of elderly folks and people coming home as well on the same thing, try not to expose other people. Same advice. Thank you. I have two questions, one for the governor and one for dr. Acton. Aboutlked earlier dispelling rumors at a there are two reports that a drug for malaria may show promise for coronavirus. Some people with type a blood are considered to be more highrisk for coronavirus. I would like you to address those two issues. For governor, when you turn the lights out at the end of the day, do you wonder if you have done enough . Do you wish something you did today should have been done a week ago . For example, we have daycares that are open and people are scratching their heads about why those are open. Thank you. Easier one. Get the we will not have a vaccine for a while. Even though it is going at record speeds. There is some hope and there have been trials all over the world of promising drugs, certainly the antimalarials with a combination of antibiotics. That are other antivirals are being tested. Situationslso in that are unusual causes, the fda can waive that, a physician can waive Compassionate Care guidelines that allows them to try something in unusual circumstances. There is a lot of that going on. There is some study going on of these antivirals and we will hope that some of this will work. It will give us more tools. That said, where we are now in the epidemic curve, we are on the up sweep and we need to follow these guidelines. That will not change for us. We have to focus our testing is for the both highrisk right now, hospital workers, frontline workers. Talk to your doctor, they will talk to the hospital. Most of us will stayathome. Be 20 who might hospitalized, we are using it for that. We will circle around, right now we are working on getting hospitals ready. Then i will let the governor speak and on the blood. I have not looked at that yet. I will get back to you. Reporter thank you. Every night, when i go to bed, i think, have we done enough . All day long, i think, have we done enough . That is the question i asked my team every day and asked myself 24 hours a day. Daycare, daycares we will have more for you tomorrow. Many of the daycare numbers are going down fairly dramatically. Andle have taken our advice have used their own judgment and had taken kids home. We are now in the process of determining how many of the kids who are left there represent to our who are vital health system, vital to our economy. Those determinations are being made. You are seeing a dramatic drop in a number of kids in daycare and we will have more for you tomorrow. We will expand it, your then, we are looking director talked about adult daycare, talked about congregate feeeding. Those are in process. We are trying to determine, can we provide people with what they need out of that setting . , the crd to food ongregate feeding for our elderly, that is ongoing, that is being moved away from the congregate into the homes. The agencies who have got it done, thank you. Individualsng those safer and still providing food. For those who have not gotten it done, please do it. We want to provide the food, but we need to get them away from that danger of being with so many other people. In the area of adult when we are talking about not be feeding programs, but adult daycare, we have people there who have different needs. Some very significant needs. Is, we have to make sure people be kick them out, that those needs are going to be made met every day. , as weo have the issue know what is coming, to making singleat a nurse, say a nurse, maybe no one else in her home, she takes care of her mom when she is there, mom has many different needs during the day, cannot be left alone, these are the calls we have to make. We need that nurse, but we also want to get the mom in a particular setting so she is not at risk to herself and others. Is how we movess people out from here down to hear but at the same time dont abandon them. T is a work in progress we will have more for you on that tomorrow. Hi, governor. The governor of new york suspended all org payments amid this crisis. All mortgage payments amid this crisis. If there talk of this in ohio . Gov. Dewine we have had discussions about everything. These are possible items for the General Assembly next week. Reporter thank you. Reportingthe blade is that there is a presumptive coronavirus death in mommy. Is this on your radar screen . How long blood take before we know whether ohio has had its first death . This is something that is under investigation. I am aware of it. I will talk with everyone about that. We need to let the investigation at the local level, our disease detectors are doing a thorough look into this to make that confirmation. It is presumptive. When we have more, i will tell you. I have to say, this is real. This is why we want you to take it seriously. We are seeing all the symptoms come out the basic sense that this is accelerating, we knew this would happen. It is heartbreaking. Every bit of this has been heartbreaking for the people who have it, people in the icus, people who want to advocate for their parents in a home but cannot visit them. This is some of the hardest stuff we will face. Our guidance. Reporter how long you think the investigation will take place . Dr. Acton i dont think it will take much longer. Gov. Dewine i was notified of that a few hours ago. , howter i am wondering close do you feel we are to a shelter in place order . It was reported that the illinois governor is considering making such a move in the coming days and some are doing their own but also questioning whether that is effective given it is not a statewide mandate. Alreadyine we have asked people to shelter in place if they can. , people use other terms, to put it bluntly, stay home. We asked people to stay home. Please stay home if you can. I talked to a friend of mine today at he called me up and wanted to see how i was doing. I said, how are you doing . He said, we are sheltered at home. Many ohioans are doing that. We need more ohioans to do that. Some of this is just terminology. If you get a shelter in place order, you will still need police, still need fire, still the emergency, still need to eat. We will need a lot of things that continue on in this state. Some of this is more terminology than anything. We want people to shelter in place. We want them to stay home. I will redo that plea. If there is no reason to be out, please stay home. Let me Say Something we talked about the beaches and seeing people on the beach. An article today i read, it look at the number of young people who are in icu right now, people in their 20s, 30s, we should not think when we say that it is more deadly the older you get, that someone mean who gets this at a younger age will have an easy time. We have people reporting from the icu and talking about that. This spares no one. , we haveid yesterday it within ourselves and making small decisions to impact human life. We have it within ourselves to stop it from spreading from one human to another. Cannot spread unless we help do that. Lets do what we need to do. Lets protect ourselves and our families. Reporter thank you. Reporter hi, governor. I wanted to climb in and thank you for these daily i wanted in and thank you for these daily briefings. If you hinted about mortgage payments but with legislator coming back next week to deal with the coronavirus crisis, i was wondering, could you provide your top three or four which lists for what you would like the legislature to accomplish related to the crisis next week if possible . Gov. Dewine we will give you that list shortly. I dont have it right now. Is emergency power that we do not have come out that our lawyers tell us we do not have. I dont think any of this will be a shock. Opportunity yesterday to talk with the speaker, we were talking with the Senate President , making this list available to the minority leaders. We will share that with you shortly. I want to add something about the mortgage question. Most mortgages are regulated federally antifederal housing setnce authority yesterday a moratorium at 60 days for foreclosures and 12 months of forbearance. Most of the mortgage stuff at the federal level is already underway. That that conversation is moving in the right direction. My question is for the Lieutenant Governor. You mentioned you spoke with the president and Vice President about masks and ventilators. Any sense for how many more ohioans might be able to get . And with unemployment benefits, we had questions from the west confused about who might be eligible, how soon those rules might be changed, how much money they will get. Can you clarify about what this might look like moving forward . Lt. Gov. Husted people that are eligible for unemployment are fulltime workers that were recently relieved of their as as and need assistance result of the coronavirus or whatever reason, your business shutdown. Unemployment. At ohio. Gov. Usually you have to wait a week, you do not have to wait a week to be eligible. We are looking at how we might address parttime employees because the limit is that you have to work at least 20 hours a tok and make you have have worked 20 weeks and made up to 255 a week. We are looking at those limitations to see if we might find a way to accommodate that. We are asking the federal government to help us with 1099 employees or filers who are not employees but in the workforce and would not be eligible for unemployment under the traditional system. Are an employer who relieves somebody, you dont have a paid leave program but this person is exhibiting signs of coronavirus and you want them out of the workplace for your safety and theirs, they would be eligible for this. The federal programs that i talked about earlier that were passed in the legislation that the Senate Approved and President Trump signed, we are going to get the rules on that as soon as we can. Ohioof thatadministered througe department of job and family services. As soon as we have that information, we will provide it to you. The big piece on the president s briefing, there is a waiver. Believen it is n 95 masks. They are not surgical grade. Theyve had a waiver to make sure there is no liability as it relates to those. Recall,l bring, i cant it is a substantial number into the system that was not there before, from the Construction Industry and things like that. That will bring new masks. The private sector have introduced, the president announced they have testing kids they will try to get to people across the country as fast as they can. We just got briefing on that. Im sure they have a release on what those numbers are. Ventilators as well . Wereey had a process they talking about. I would encourage you to address that with the Administration Briefing numbers. They have a release on all of that. Robbins, my question is for governor dewine. This comes from our sister station in cincinnati. Have you thought about closing some of the campuses like the cincinnati where thousands are continuing to work . Gov. Dewine we continue to look at different places and opportunities to reduce people coming together. Whether it is the irs, we are asking them to observe all of the safety measures. We dont want any employer to be walking into a situation that is not good. Any of their workers that can work from home, we would ask the government to do what we are asking everyone else, to let them work from home. I just have a question about resources. You guys have discussed young people, we really dont know how many of these people who are six six are in their 20s, 30s, so on. Do that . Our ability to are you stretched for resources . We are putting out the demographic detail numbers as fast as we can. A plethora ofin information. We give out information at the county level. Local health departments, we have 113. They are leading the way in the press releases now. There are certain things they will be coming to you with and we are receiving data now from private labs and hospital labs and our own labs. Some of that takes a while to compile. Thank you. Lines, we have six hospitals in ohio that are testing. Do maybe clinic can 1000 per day. When i look at the National Testing situation, ohio has a lot of testing compared to smaller states. What is the rate of testing . We have maximized the Testing Capacity we have been given. We are blessed to have amazing Health Care Systems. We did stand up what has been called drivethrough. As you know, there has been a media thatws in the you put it in. Even though we have tremendous capability, we did not have all that. We are making corrections every day. It might be helpful to put this on our website. Testing,lking about saving our capability for those highest risk folks, hospital and health care workers. Patients, that 20 that are going to be surging any second now on hospitals. Andre doing that to protect use that wisely. And then also this frontline responder. The police and ems and that is how we are going to triage that. We will have that on our website. Remember, folks at home, i know this is scary. Tocan talk about we have fight the war we have with what we have. We will go back for it. If you are home and your doctor knows and does a history and tells you to ride this out at home, there is no difference. You might test negative because you are too early in your illness. The lack of testing is not going from treating you well. We will tell you everything we know as we know it. Go to our website. Listen to your provider. We will be mapping out our hospitals as we gather that. We will be hearing more and more in the days to come about capacity. We are inventing some Amazing Things as we go. We will share it with you. As you know we became as weirdarent as we are in a way. Transparent,not everyone has to say thanks so much. Because of that it led to this commitment we have made. Thank you. Thank you for these briefings. Question for dr. Back in dr. Atkin. I was reading that study on nonpharmacological interventions. Superfund reading. It talks about home isolation that need to be maintained until a vaccine is available, which could be as long as 18 months. Can you give us a realistic timeframe of how long we will be in the situation we are in . Definitely, if you are following the news, this is a long haul. We have to take it as it comes. Could be ase drugs new tool. You will see us take the best interventions, those four things i mentioned, the early interventions, rewind back to one of these has conferences to learn about that. That is what we are deploying. That depends on so many factors. The other thing, you will watch china go through this, how do creating aat without surge of infection . We have a lot of ideas. Ive been talking to scientists. I love to be a part of the conversations going on all over the world. As testing, this is where the testing will be invaluable because what we need to do is do a monitoring of the population. Then we can look back at blood. There are a lot of innovations. This is an unprecedented situation. There will be strategies to help us walk out of this. Stay tuned on that. When you hear words like 18 months, that adds a layer of impossibility. This is the art of the possible. Someone had a beautiful poster about the art of the possible. There is so much possibility right now. Nothing is for sure. Everything we do every day makes a difference and changes the curve. Governor, i am told i have the last question. Private nonessential businesses that say they cannot close unless you tell them to. Do you see that to be the case . Or is it on them to close if they think they should . Gov. Dewine we are happy to talk to any company like that. Past had situations in the when we started through this, some of the early decisions, we were told we would tell somebody to close and they said you have to order us to close. We are open to discussion. The ultimate goal is to keep people safe. If that fits in with keeping people safe, we are happy to talk with them. Thanks. Thank you, everybody. See you tomorrow. Thank you very much. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] hearing from the leaders of several states today, a 20 minute briefing expected from the georgia governor at 4 30 p. M. On cspan. On capitol hill, the Senate Continues on phase three of the coronavirus release bill. Mitch mcconnell says he will keep the senate in session until the legislation is passed. Aports say it may amount to trillion dollars or more. You can watch the senate right now on cspan2. Some lawmakers are pushing to include language to prohibit. Urprise medical bills that is a bipartisan priority since last year. Industry groups disagree on how to determine payment disputes and squabbles between committees have slowed down both efforts. You can read more online. Follow the federal response to the corona virus at cspan. Org. Check the spread throughout the u. S. And the world with interactive maps and charts. Watch briefings and hearings ,ith specialists anytime unfiltered, at cspan. Org coronavirus. Television has changed since cspan began 41 years ago. Our Mission Continues to provide an unfiltered view of government. We have brought you primary election coverage, the impeachment process, and now the federal response to the coronavirus. You can watch of all of our all of our programming online or our free radio app. Be part of the National Conversation through the daily Washington Journal Program or our social media scene. Cspan, created by private industry. And broughtservice to you by your television provider. We heard earlier today from the National Guard on their response to the coronavirus. Here is general Joseph Lingle who spoke for about 25 minutes. Morning. You, good i am glad to be here today. Today we face a national
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