CLEVELAND — With Gov. Mike DeWine announcing a mask mandate for certain counties in Ohio, people have a lot of questions about facial coverings, so we're bringing you answers.
A medical professional with expertise surrounding masks answered questions submitted by you in a live Q&A session at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 9.
Dr. Iahn Gonsenhauser, the Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, chatted with 3News Digital Anchor Stephanie Haney via Zoom, covering only the things you want to know more about.
"Dr. G," as he is called by patients, broke down everything from how often to wash masks and if you can get by with just a face shield to whether the mandate should be statewide and what's the right age to require your child to wear one.
Viewers submitted mask-related questions by tweeting at @wkyc with the hashtag #3Masks, texting them to to (216) 344-3300, and posting on our 3News Facebook page in the comments of this story post.
The discussion centered completely around important things for Ohioans to know now that facial coverings are required in public in all Ohio counties that are designated as being under a "red" Level 3 Alert for COVID-19 (or higher) based on the color-coded alert system DeWine introduced last week.
Once a county falls below a Level 3 Alert, the requirement lifts, and masks will no longer be required in public so long as the county remains at an "orange" Level 2 Alert or below.
The Ohio Health Department executive order requiring masks in centain counties was announced Tuesday during DeWine's bi-weekly press conference to updated Ohioans on the state of COVID-19, and went into effect on Wednesday, July 8 at 6 p.m.
As of Thursday morning, there were seven counties that fell within the restrictions included in the order: Butler, Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Huron, Montgomery, and Trumbull.
During DeWine's press conference on Thursday afternoon, he updated the counties under a "red" Level 3 alert to include the following: Wood, Lorain, Cuyahoga, Summit, Franklin, Fairfield, Pickaway, Montgomery, Butler, Hamilton and Clermont.
Cuyahoga, Butler and Hamilton counties have been noted to be nearing the "purple" Level 4 highest alert.
