CEDARVILLE, Ohio — On Tuesday, Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted were back in front of the cameras for a briefing on the state of Ohio's latest response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the briefing, DeWine announced that the state will soon conduct a study of quarantine guidelines at its schools. Many school superintendents have expressed their concerns to the governor about the number of students meeting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) definition of close contact and being put into quarantine.
DeWine says the state plans to take ten school buildings spread out over different demographics and run frequent strip COVID-19 tests of those individuals who would normally be quarantined. The state expects to receive 120,000 strip tests every seven to ten days.
In addition, DeWine noted that although COVID-19 hospital admissions in Ohio had been declining since peaking in mid-July, hospitalizations are now trending upwards with an increasing number of hospitalizations in rural Ohio.
The average age of hospitalized patients has also gone up in recent weeks. Ohioans 60 and older now account for approximately 70 percent of COVID hospital admissions as compared to 50 percent of hospitalizations in July.
"As we said earlier in August and September, spread among the young and healthy will eventually impact those who are older and more vulnerable, which is why it is so very important that younger Ohioans do all they can to prevent spread," said Governor DeWine.
Regionally, the western part of the state has been seeing an increase in hospital admissions and relatively fewer hospital admissions have been occurring in northeast and central Ohio.
All regions of the state currently have adequate hospital capacity.
One other note from Tuesday, DeWine stated that his administration's decision to increase fan capacity at FirstEnergy Stadium to 12,000 people will probably remain in place for the remainder of the Cleveland Browns' season.
"I think we're probably at where we're going to stop," DeWine said in a Tuesday press conference, adding this is still a "game-by-game" process but he doesn't "see any reason why we couldn't continue at 12,000" on into December.
DeWine held three news conferences last week, including one on Friday after President Donald Trump announced that he and the First Lady had tested positive for coronavirus. DeWine and Husted issued a proclamation calling for a "Day of Prayer" on Sunday for the president, First Lady, and all those affected by COVID-19.
The announcement about Trump's coronavirus diagnosis came just a few days after the president and several of his family members -- including the First Lady -- were in Cleveland to attend Tuesday's debate against Joe Biden, many seen seated in the audience without wearing a mask.
DeWine was asked Friday whether he believes that Cleveland Clinic should be fined for not enforcing mask rules inside of the Samson Pavillion during the debate.
"It's a great institution," DeWine said of the Cleveland Clinic's enforcement of masks inside the debate hall, "I think they did a very very good job."
In regards to the pictures and videos of the Trump family not wearing masks during the debate and whether the Cleveland Clinic should be fined, Husted said "I saw almost everyone inside the venue had a mask on, I wasn't in a position that I could see everyone, but everyone that was in my sightline had a mask on, outside of the participants in the debate."