CLEVELAND — On Friday afternoon, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson gave a long-awaited update on how the city is dealing with coronavirus.
In a conference call with reporters, the mayor indicated that what happens on Monday when Gov. Mike DeWine announces his plans to reopen Ohio will determine what happens in Cleveland.
Safety, according to Jackson, is the number one priority.
"Our purpose and our mission and our goal is to how do we minimize the suffering and burden on individuals and people in businesses for recovery and how after this is all over with," Jackson told reporters on the call. "How do we position Cleveland as a whole because of what we have done?"
Jackson says that the city has no immediate plans to lay off any of its employees, adding that his office will be working with the health department to make sure city workers, as well as businesses, will have safe and clean working environments.
36 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed among Cleveland residents on Friday. It's the city's largest day-to-day increase since the pandemic began, with the total number of positive tests now at 556. Two female patients, one in her 80s and another in her 90, passed away. There are now 23 fatalities due to COVID-19 in Cleveland.
On Thursday, City Hall also announced that this year's "Senior Day" event for graduating high schoolers has been canceled, and bulk waste pickup has been suspended for the month of May in order to adhere to social distancing.
While much of Cleveland has been shut down in order to slow the spread of the virus, workers will begin resurfacing roads and sealing cracks next week as scheduled. Signs will be placed around certain roads to detail traffic restrictions.
Despite the rising number of virus cases, the city reports at least 127 of its patients have fully recovered from the disease.
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