CLEVELAND — It is time to think about what you can do to help the state of Ohio.
On Saturday, Governor Mike DeWine made two separate pleas. The first was to the private sector and the second was to the FDA.
Though the state has received rations from the federal government, they may not be enough.
“It should be no secret to anyone that we have a real, real shortage,” Gov. DeWine said.
Pleading with the public, the governor revealed a “Top Ten List” of items he hopes can be donated or produced. They include the following:
- Surgical gowns (all sizes)
- Face/surgical masks (adult and pediatric)
- Hospital gloves
- N95 masks
- Gowns
- Face shields
- Coveralls
- Thermometers
- Foot coverings
- Ventilator Tubing
Anyone who can help should email together@governor.ohio.com.
It is the latest push to protect healthcare workers who now represent roughly 1 of every 6 coronavirus cases in Ohio.
“The people at the front line,” Gov. DeWine said. “The real heroes of this story who are out there every single day.”
The governor also made what he called a “life or death” request of the FDA, asking it to approve a system developed by Columbus-based private research lab Batelle.
Batelle can now sterilize up to 160,000 surgical masks per day, making them reusable across the state.
“Please, please give us the approval to use these,” DeWine pleaded.
He also placed a Monday deadline on a plan to divide all Ohio hospitals into eight separate regions, allowing them to coordinate tools and space.
DeWine said they could also identify hotels and nursing homes in their areas where there could be spare beds.
“We cannot get through this by each hospital doing its own thing,” he said. “The only way we can get through this is having each hospital coming together with one voice.”
Ohio Health Director Amy Acton compared what is coming to a hurricane and thanked the public for its help in weakening its strength by socially distancing.
“You at home have helped us buy time and the impact we need,” Dr. Acton said. “We are weakening the wave of the hurricane and what you do every day is so important.”
For the first time in days, there will be no news briefing on Sunday, unless there is an emergency. The next one will be Monday afternoon at 2 p.m.
On Monday, all Ohio Public Broadcasting Stations will also suspend their lineups and switch to at-home learning programs geared towards students.
It will help those with limited Internet access and reflect various learning levels.
The new lineup can be found here: https://wviz.ideastream.org/schedule/wviz
Free PBS learning resources are at: https://thinktv.pbslearningmedia.org/
Click here for our special coronavirus section.