As the new school year approaches, many colleges and universities across Ohio are preparing to welcome students back to campus.
As a result, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has announced that the state has released guidance for the best practices for doing so amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
According to DeWine, the guidance includes minimum operating standards that should occur on all campuses, in addition to best practices to further enhance those standards. These guidelines include the requirement for every campus to develop policies and procedures for COVID-19 testing and the isolation of symptomatic students, faculty, and staff members. Symptomatic testing will take priority over asymptomatic testing.
A full list of the state's guidance can be found at coronavirus.ohio.gov.
Partially due to the costs associated with increased testing, DeWine said that he has requested that the Controlling Board of the General Assembly approve a request to allocate $200 million for higher education and $100 million for K-12 educational institutions. The funding would come from the federal CARES Act and schools would be able to use it to meet their unique individual needs.