CEDARVILLE, Ohio — On Thursday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted held a briefing with the latest on the state's response to coronavirus and the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Here were some of the key issues brought up during the news conference:
SCHOOL VACCINATION UPDATE
DeWine announced that every public school district in the state - except for one - has agreed to resume in-person schooling by March 1 which was a requirement for staff to have early access to the vaccine.
K-12 schools whose staff can be vaccinated next week have been notified. All other schools will be contacted Friday with information on when their K-12 staff will be permitted to receive a vaccine.
The governor says more details on Ohio's K-12 vaccination process will also be released on Friday. The plan ensures that the maximum number of people can be vaccinated in the shortest amount of time. The plan also makes the process as simple as possible for staff to be vaccinated and is organized to allow most K-12 staff
DeWine and Husted also provided an update on the state's COVID-19 cases and other key statistics. The Ohio Public Health Advisory System map indicated very little change. Hamilton County is no longer listed as Level 4 (Purple), but the rest of the state remains the same as last week.
Because the state had seven straight days of COVID-19 hospitalizations below 3,500, starting Thursday evening, the statewide curfew will be pushed back one hour from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Subsequently, should Ohio manage to remain below 3,000 hospitalizations for seven straight days, its curfew will then be pushed back to 12 a.m. for a two-week period. After that, if Ohio can keep its hospitalizations under 2,500 for seven consecutive days, the curfew would be lifted altogether.
You can watch Thursday's briefing in the player below:
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