COLUMBUS, Ohio — Following a 24-hour delay, Gov. Mike DeWine held his latest press briefing regarding the coronavirus pandemic in Ohio.
DeWine announced that starting on Thursday at 6:00 p.m., citizens all Ohio counties will be required to wear a face covering when out in public. This includes the following situations.
- At an indoor location that’s not a residence
- Outdoors, when unable to keep 6ft social distance from those not in your household
- When waiting for, riding, driving, or operating public transportation -taxi, car service, private rideshare
"Wearing masks will make a difference. It will determine what our fall looks like. We want kids to go back to school, we want to see sports -- to do that it's very important that all Ohioans wear a mask," DeWine stated during his press conference.
The order only requires those who are 10 years old or older to wear a mask. There were several other conditions that DeWine mentioned.
DeWine also announced that announcing a travel advisory for all individuals coming into Ohio from states reporting positive testing rates of 15% or higher for COVID-19 and recommend that those individuals self-quarantine for 14 days.
On an unrelated front, Columbus is still reeling following the arrest of Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and four others yesterday in a massive bribery investigation tied to the bailout of two nuclear plants once controlled by FirstEnergy.
DeWine did have to stray from health matters and address what many feel is the largest political scandal in the state's history, as he did Tuesday when he called on Householder to resign.
The governor says he wouldn't support repealing House Bill 6, which secured an estimated $1 billion bailout for two nuclear power plants operated by FirstEnergy.
"For a long time, I've advocated and the Lt. Governor has advocated for a balanced energy policy in the state of Ohio. We think having nuclear plants is a part of that balanced policy," DeWine said. "We had a couple of big factors in my support for the bill. One is the jobs. We had the opportunity to visit one of the plants, saw some of the workers. When you look at the numbers, [there are] a lot of workers there.
Gov. DeWine's press briefing on Wednesday will air live on WKYC and stream on WKYC.com.
RELATED: Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, 4 others arrested in $60 million federal bribery case