Ohio says it’s not ready to give more specifics on COVID-19 cases

COLUMBUS — Ohio officials said though some metropolitan areas have started breaking down data on COVID-19 cases by locality, the state isn't yet ready to do the same.

WHERE ARE THE CASES?

During a Friday briefing on the state's coronavirus response, Laura Hancock, reporter for Cleveland.com, asked Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton whether those who've contracted or died from the virus can be further identified by ZIP code.

Hancock cited Mahoning County as one of the hardest-hit counties, which had the highest per capita rate of confirmed cases and deaths in the state based on figures released Tuesday.

"We don't know if it's in the Youngstown city limits or somewhere else. We're being asked to collectively make sacrifices to our freedoms, movement and commerce so transparency would make the situation more real," Hancock said, asking if local health departments would receive more guidance on releasing more specific information to their communities.

Though the state reports include age ranges and dates of death for Ohio's confirmed cases, they don't include locational data.

Trumbull and Columbiana health officials have been releasing daily updates on new cases and deaths outside of the state's daily reports, which include more current figures. Mahoning County health officials release figures on Tuesdays and Thursdays — which, so far, have been numbers the state health department has released the day prior — and hold daily phone briefings for local media to ask questions.

Acton said many of the state's COVID-19 investigations are still ongoing, but promised to further release statistics so long as they don't "jeopardize very private healthcare information.

"I think it's so early in this to tell what this data actually means. It's going to be layers and layers of science to help elucidate that," she said. "We're sharing far more data than I've ever had access to."

PRISONER RELEASE

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday announced 38 of the state's nearly 49,000 prisoners who are in some of the demographics most vulnerable to COVID-19 could be considered for early release.

That includes 23 female inmates who are currently pregnant or recently gave birth to a child who is living with them in prison and 15 prisoners who are more than 60 years old and have fewer than 120 days left in their sentences, the governor said.

DeWine's administration has written to judges in those inmates' cases, asking them to consider early release. He later told reporters he would leave further decisions on parole or monitoring up to those judges.

He assured none of the prisoners who were screened for early release were violent or sexual offenders.

Shakyra Diaz, director of the Alliance for Safety and Justice's Ohio office, called the move "the start of an important recognition: that people who post no substantial public safety risk don't need to remain incarcerated, especially during a pandemic.

"We encourage the administration to continue evolving and expanding its efforts to safely reduce incarceration, as prisons are places where the virus can easily spread and expose people detained or working there and, in turn, their families and communities," she said in a Friday release.

HOSPITAL CAPACITY

Maj. Gen. John Harris, Adjutant General of the Ohio National Guard, said Friday service members who are in local communities helping plan a build-out of Ohio hospital capacity ahead of an incoming surge of infections likely won't be looking at building new structures, but rather expanding on existing facilities with partitions, and creating new space for those who are not as ill.

"We know the approach is working. The key is to make sure we have the right resources, the right surge capacity at the right time," Harris said.

The Ohio Department of Health is also helping expand hospital staffing capacity, he said.

Dennis O'Hara, director of the Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency, on Friday told Mahoning Matters there are "a number of reasons" officials have no plans to re-open the shuttered Northside Regional Medical Center to assist with that surge, but added there are other locations under consideration.

Here are the other developments from Friday around the state and nation:

• According to the latest figures today from the Ohio Department of Health, the state has 3,312 cases of COVID-19, including 203 cases in Mahoning County; 75 in Trumbull; and 28 in Columbiana. Statewide, there have been 91 deaths, including 12 in Mahoning County; 7 in Trumbull; and 5 in Columbiana. Trumbull and Columbiana health officials released more current figures Friday, which are included in the above totals.

• Mahoning County's 12 reported COVID-19 deaths remains the second-highest among all Ohio's 88 counties and its confirmed cases are the fifth-highest in the state, according to the state's COVID-19 dashboard, which presents confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths in each county.

• The City of Youngstown on Friday reported 33 cases, including 14 hospitalizations and two deaths.

• The Catholic Diocese of Youngstown has extended its temporary suspension of all Masses and liturgies through Sunday, May 3, to align with the state's expansion of its stay-at-home order until May 1.

• Poland Township trustees on Friday OK'd a resolution enabling their first responders to apply for benefits under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act. The federal Coronavirus Response Act allowed employers to exclude first responders.

• Salem City School District on Friday announced the closure of Sebo Stadium, which has seen "unusually high traffic" from exercisers and drawn attention from the city's health department, said Junior-Senior High Principal Sean Kirkland.

• Boardman Local Schools is holding a meal distribution for all children aged 1 to 18, regardless of income, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday in the high school parking lot, 7777 Glenwood Ave. Five breakfasts and five lunches will be handed out from the junior high side of the building. The district fed about 1,150 children during a food distribution this past Monday.

• According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health on Friday, there are 8,402 COVID-19 cases in the state which have led to 102 deaths. There are 19 cases in Lawrence County with 2 deaths; 10 cases in Mercer County with no known deaths.

• Pennsylvania officials will close the waiver process for nonessential businesses seeking permission to operate during the coronavirus-induced shutdown today. The Department of Community and Economic Development will only accept applications through 5 p.m.

• Nearly 1 in 4 small businesses — 24 percent — have temporarily shut their doors due to the response to COVID-19 in the U.S., and an additional 40 percent said they likely will do so within the next two weeks, according to a new survey from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Metlife.

This story was originally published April 4, 2020 at 5:32 AM with the headline "Ohio says it’s not ready to give more specifics on COVID-19 cases."