Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced today that Ohio Department of Health Director Stephanie McCloud has issued an addendum that updates quarantine guidance for student-athletes and participants in extracurricular activities who may have been incidentally exposed to COVID-19 in a classroom setting.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted today provided the following updates on Ohio’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
NURSING HOME VISITATION
Governor DeWine today discussed the new federal regulations for nursing home visitation, as well as Ohio’s Vaccine Maintenance Program. The visitation guidelines, issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) indicate visitation should be happening in nursing homes. There are a few specific exceptions that would limit visitation, such as outbreaks in the facility or an extreme number of cases in the community. Full information on the federal nursing home visitation guidance is available at cms.gov.
Additionally, Governor DeWine highlighted the progress being made by Ohio’s Vaccine Maintenance Program for nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Ohio’s Vaccine Maintenance Program ensures new nursing home residents and employees, and established residents and employees who previously decided not to receive a vaccine, can still choose to receive one. Governor DeWine emphasized the importance of every nursing home resident receiving a vaccine.
Long-term care facility visitation status is available on the dashboard at coronavirus.ohio.gov.
STATEWIDE CASE RATE
Governor DeWine announced that, statewide, Ohio is currently at a rate of 155 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people during the past two weeks. Last week, statewide data put Ohio at 180 cases per 100,000 people.
“In Ohio, we are still at a very elevated level of cases, but today’s health data is certainly trending in the right direction,” said Governor DeWine.
In an evening address last week, Governor DeWine announced that when Ohio reached 50 cases per 100,000 people for two weeks, all health orders will be lifted.
The Ohio Department of Health will update this data each Thursday.
RAPID TESTING
Governor DeWine today detailed four initiatives that are making rapid COVID-19 tests more accessible to Ohioans:
Federal Qualified Health Centers
The state’s ongoing partnership with federally qualified health centers has led to the availability of over 150,000 rapid tests at community health centers. These centers have professionals on-hand to administer the tests free of charge.
Local Health Departments
Local health departments have partnered with their communities to make at-home testing available to schools, nonprofit organizations, and first responders.
Public Libraries
The state has recently partnered with public libraries to make at-home tests available to more Ohio communities. During the first two weeks, Ohio has partnering with 120 libraries.
K-12 Schools
A new partnership launched today will bring 200,000 at-home tests to Educational Service Centers. To increase confidence and safety in schools, Governor DeWine encourages school districts to take advantage of this resource and develop aggressive testing plans.
Between libraries and local health departments, at-home testing is accessible in 76 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Some of these areas had disproportionate access to testing earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic.
GUIDANCE ON FAIRS
Governor DeWine announced that the Ohio Department of Health issued a revised order that allows for the reopening of all fair activities if certain health conditions are met. The updated order includes compliance with the statewide mask order and social distancing. Additionally, there will be a 25 percent maximum for indoor grandstand capacity and a 30 percent maximum for outdoor grandstand capacity.
Additionally, the Ohio Department of Health will issue updated order and guidance regarding festivals, parades, proms, and spring sports. For spring sports, students will not be required to quarantine because they have an incidental exposure to COVID-19 in a classroom unless symptoms develop.
These orders and guidance will be forthcoming from the Ohio Department of Health.
LETTER ADDRESSING PUA FRAUD
Governor DeWine and Lt. Governor today sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging the development of a national, coordinated response to ongoing, widespread fraud attempts being committed through the unemployment system, specifically the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) Program.
See below for an excerpt from the letter:
“We urge you to immediately develop a national, coordinated response to this ongoing attempt to defraud the American people and our national and state governments. While states are doing everything they can to administer the federal programs while maintaining system integrity, a state-by-stare response is proving inadequate. This is not an Ohio problem — it’s a national problem that requires a national solution.”
CURRENT CASE DATA
In total, there are 984,934 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 reported in Ohio and 17,825 COVID-19 deaths. A total of 51,323 people have been hospitalized throughout the pandemic, including 7,255 admissions to intensive care units. In-depth data can be accessed by visiting coronavirus.ohio.gov.
Video of today’s full update, including versions with foreign language translation, can be viewed on the Ohio Channel’s YouTube page.
For more information on Ohio’s response to COVID-19, visit coronavirus.ohio.gov or call 1-833-4-ASK-ODH.
Loveland, Ohio – With May arriving in just a few days, many LHS students are still trying to process that they will not be stepping foot back into their schools for the remainder of the academic year. LHS student-athletes also received some devastating news last week confirming that they would not be competing in their designated Spring sport for the remainder of the school year. With all of the unfortunate news, LHS coaches have been trying to place a positive spin on everything by providing their athletes with workouts that they can do at home as well as a variety of other motivational tools!
LHS’s Head Women’s Volleyball Coach, Brian Baugh, is one of the LHS Coaches that has really been dedicating a lot of his time during the Stay At Home Order to his team in order to keep them both motivated and dedicated to their craft.
“For Women’s volleyball, the Spring and Summer are extremely important for getting the girls ready for the season. Typically we would hold open gyms and lift throughout the week,” Baugh said, “Many of the girls would be participating in club season as well, but like every team, we have had to adapt. We are fortunate that at Loveland we have Strength and Conditioning Coach, Derek Berry, on staff. He puts together workouts that are pushed out to our players through the Team Buildr app. It’s a great way for the athletes to work out at home and for me to track their workouts.”
Coach Baugh told us that many of his players have gotten very creative with their volleyball training, creating things around the house to help them work on their skills. Many of the team’s siblings and parents are helping them at home with their skill sets as well!
LHS’s Head Women’s Volleyball Coach, Brian Baugh
“To me, the most important thing is to come together as a team, so that whenever we get back on that court, we are building each other up and have each other’s backs when things get tough,” Baugh explained, “We are fortunate that our future seniors are really leading the charge. We have great leaders in Maya Jepson, Diana Clark, Abbie Miller, Alex Miller, Faith Meece, and Ellie Egan. They are high character girls. They have created different competitions for the team to complete during the quarantine. For example, they did a baking competition where they baked and decorated cakes and then put them on Twitter to have fans vote for the best. They also created a virtual pepper video that they put on Twitter. We have been sharing baby pictures of each player and are having fans guess which player or coach is featured in the picture. We also have been holding Google Meets weekly to check-in on one another.”
Coach Baugh says he has been challenging his players weekly. One of the ways Coach Baugh has been challenging his team during the isolation period is by asking them once a week how they have improved as a player and a person. After the player comes up with their answer Coach Baugh has them share their response with the team.
“It has certainly been a challenge not being on the court, but I am so impressed with how the players have responded during this time off,” Coach Baugh said with pride, “I cannot wait to see how they go for that fourth straight ECC title this coming season!”
For more LHS sports updates stay tuned to the Loveland Sports 411 With Cassie Mattia!
Loveland, Ohio – The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) informed member schools, including the Loveland City School District Monday, April 20th, that Spring sports would officially be canceled. This decision was made after Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced earlier the same day that school facilities would remain closed for the rest of the academic year due to the coronavirus COVID-19.
OHSAA Executive Director Jerry Snodgrass sent out a memo confirming to school administrators following Governor DeWine’s press conference about the Spring sports cancellation. For weeks, the OHSAA communicated that if schools remained closed for the year Spring sports would be canceled as well. Of course, there were several reasons that went into the final decision of Spring sports being canceled, one of the main reasons being that it would be nearly impossible to ensure the health and safety of all individuals and support personnel involved in practices and contests at all member schools.
OHSAA Executive Director Jerry Snodgrass
“As we have stated in our previous communications, today’s announcement by Governor DeWine to close schools for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year also will now result in the cancellation of OHSAA-sponsored spring sports seasons including tournaments,” Snodgrass wrote Monday.
The OHSAA’s mandatory no-contact period for all interscholastic sports will remain in effect until at least May 3, and could in fact be extended until a later date. Coaches and school administrators have been encouraged to have non-mandatory electronic and online communications with their student-athletes during the no-contact period. The closure of school facilities includes all athletic facilities for any interscholastic training, practice, or competition.
In an interview Monday afternoon, Snodgrass reflected on the unprecedented times that the pandemic has brought to the nation and the impact it has had on schools and interscholastic athletics.
“I’ve heard from so many people who have said ‘You really need to understand what this means to our kids,’” Snodgrass said during the interview. “I’m a parent. I was a coach. I grew up every day as a player and a coach wanting to play high school sports and get to the state tournament. So I do think I understand that. I also have to go with the fact that my number one concern that I have, over everything, is the health and safety of everyone involved. It’s not just our student-athletes. It’s the parents, coaches, umpires, officials, the scorekeepers. All those things enter into this. It’s a tough decision and it’s one that I and all the other Executive Directors of the other states never thought we would have to do. Never did I think this would be the case, but I’ve tried to be as prepared as I could every step of the way.”
Snodgrass also addressed the Summer and the start of Fall sports in the interview
“July is a very physical month for our student-athletes entering fall sports, so we have already started looking at, if this continues through the summer, we’ll have the potential of having a lot of kids who haven’t had the physical activity that they would normally have going into a fall season. So for the health and safety of everyone, we have to look at the acclimation periods going into the fall, if that happens. We have to be prepared for that. We’re also talking about that if this does go through the summer, what is the likelihood that a student can get in to get a physical (annual medical exam). We have a sports medicine advisory group that is looking at that. They are looking at all aspects such as whether artificial surfaces need to be treated. We are relying on the advice of experts in our decision making.”
The OHSAA said that they will continue to communicate throughout the Spring and during the Summer regarding any adjustments to OHSAA’s off-season regulations, academic eligibility standards, sports medicine updates, and more. STAY TUNED!
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