Dewine set the standard on how to handle this pandemic (Republic: crime, medical)

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by WRnative

Maryland, with a population of only 6 million, already has conducted 50 percent more COVID-19 tests per capita (11,230 per million residents) than Ohio with a population of 11.7 million (7,442 per million residents).

Now, with 500,000 South Korean tests in hand, Maryland is in a position to increase testing seven-fold from its current 67,891 cumulative tests. Maryland likely is one of the few states now in a position to much more safely phase out "stay-at-home" policies, assuming increased testing is accompanied by robust contact tracing and testing of contacts (who should be quarantined until the test results are available) and effective quarantine procedures.

The source of the Maryland and Ohio testing statistics was the following website, which is updated daily. The statistics quoted were from the 4/19 update.

https://www.vox.com/2020/3/26/211938...tests-by-state

[WRnative]

Commentaries such as this Bloomberg Opinion column published by Crain's Cleveland Business ignores the immense damage to Ohio and the nation caused by the inept and deceitful Trump administration response to the COVID-19 epidemic, as described in post 23. DeWine and other Republicans who have praised the Trump administration's performance have been enablers. In DeWine's case, his lack of both transparency and outrage about the low level of testing in Ohio effectively scuttled Ohio's chance to survive this epidemic without unnecessary deaths and immense economic damage.

<<On "Meet the Press" Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence said that there is a "sufficient amount of testing" for states soon to begin to "responsibly reopen," even though less than 2% of the population will have been tested by the end of April. Pence's statement, while not a blatant lie like Trump's March 6 assertion that "Anyone that wants a test can get a test," is nonetheless absurd.

DeWine later appeared on the same program and praised the White House. With the fantasy part of his job out of the way, DeWine moved on to reality. "We really need help," he said, noting that his state has the capacity to test more if only the Trump administration would increase its own capacity.>>

https://www.crainscleveland.com/gove...umps-fantasies

[Cleveland_Collector]

Originally Posted by on3

How much hand holding does he need to do? If people are too dumb to realize that they shouldn't be having social gatherings, then they will get the virus simply out of sheer stupidity. You can't fix stupid. When does personal responsibility enter into the equation? Why does DeWine need to hold their hand for them? Does he need to dress them and feed them too? Maybe teach them some activities to do while under quarantine? Provide them with life coaches?

By that logic, why have any executive orders limiting any sort of congregation? Surely one has no greater chance being exposed sitting in a 25% full stadium watching a baseball game than they do in a church. While you can't fix stupid, you can tell stupid the rules they need to abide by under penalty of law. The religious exemption is just pure politics on DeWine's part.

[on3]

Originally Posted by Cleveland_Collector

By that logic, why have any executive orders limiting any sort of congregation? Surely one has no greater chance being exposed sitting in a 25% full stadium watching a baseball game than they do in a church. While you can't fix stupid, you can tell stupid the rules they need to abide by under penalty of law. The religious exemption is just pure politics on DeWine's part.

That’s my point. We shouldn’t have this many that are dumb to the point where they need to be forced to abide under penalty of law.

[Cleveland_Collector]

Well, unfortunately, we do. And it's a systemic, nationwide problem.

[WRnative]

In late April, DeWine proclaimed a mandatory state-wide mask policy, then reversed the policy one day later due to opposition.

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/...while-shopping


On July 7, DeWine announced mandatory mask requirements for seven counties. This came about a week after VP Mike Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell began wearing and promoting masks. It came AFTER even Texas imposed a mandatory state mask requirement five days earlier.


https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/...564aaaaaae9126




https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07...t-coronavirus/



Unfortunately, even though several states did implement mandatory mask orders over a month ago, Ohio's failure to do so until this late date certainly has allowed the COVID-19 epidemic to reestablish itself in Ohio, with disastrous health and economic implications.


<<
A team of researchers in Texas and California compared Covid-19 infection rate trends in Italy and New York both before and after face masks were made mandatory. Both locations started to see infection rates flatten only after mandatory face mask measures were put in place, according to the study published Thursday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.>>

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/12/healt...rnd/index.html


https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/us/mi...rnd/index.html



DeWine's July 7 order required masks ONLY in those seven counties that have reached a Level 3 public emergency based on 7 indicators tracked for Ohio's new Ohio Public Health Advisory System.


https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/por...-risk-counties


https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/static/...Indicators.pdf


https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/static/...delines-GP.pdf


The Ohio Public Health Advisory System provided county profiles AS OF JULY 7 showing the seven indicators for ONLY the seven counties that had reached Level 3 and for which mask wearing was now mandatory.



https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/por...visory-system/



E.g., here are the profiles for Cuyahoga and Franklin counties, as linked at preceding web page.


https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/static/...s/cuyahoga.pdf


https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/static/...s/franklin.pdf


These profiles provide very useful information, but do not provide the data for all seven of the indicators. Unfortunately, these profiles were not publicly disclosed for remaining Ohio counties with only Level 1 and Level 2 public emergency rankings. If these profiles were made available for all counties, and, if unlike other Ohio epidemic data, they were preserved in a public, online archive, individual counties AND THEIR RESIDENTS could see epidemic trends in their communities.


And it makes no sense to me why masks also would not be mandatory in at least Level 2 counties to prevent them from reaching the Level 3 category, where ICU bed utilization can be above 70 percent!


Indeed, six new counties reached Level 3 on July 9 and mandatory mask requirements were imposed.


https://www.cleveland.com/coronaviru...mandatory.html


Profiles for these six additional counties apparently have not been publicly released.


Once again, Ohio's epidemic data transparency is highly deficient. It will be interesting to see if DeWine will disclose the county profiles for even Level 3 counties on a regular basis.


And those of us concerned about catching a virus that may be personally deadly and pose great risk to our health, and who live in Level 2 counties with no mask mandate, surely wonder why we should be exposed to higher rates of transmission UNTIL our counties reach Level 3 status.


DeWine's epidemic policies since his initial actions to shut down the state have been highly mediocre IMO despite his high approval ratings and kid glove treatment by the Ohio media. Likely thousands of Ohioans have paid the price in unnecessary hospitalizations and deaths, but Ohio levels of unemployment, homelessness and food insecurity also are higher than necessary. Until the COVID-19 is suppressed, Ohio's economy never can reopen, nor can children safely return to school.


<<Only 41% of travelers surveyed in early July said they feel safe traveling outside their communities, down from 46% just two weeks prior. And the share of people who say they feel comfortable eating at a restaurant or going to a retail shop even in their own communities has also fallen, declining to 40% this month from 47% in mid-June.>>

https://www.usnews.com/news/national...y-survey-shows

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-fu...amid-covid-19#


Months into this epidemic, Ohio still does not provide state-wide let alone county data for indicators often provided by other states. The disclosure explaining the seven public emergency indicators now used to determine the level rankings say that county indicators for contact tracing, tests per capita, and percentage of tests positive are "still under development." Ohio does now provide some very useful state-wide testing data.


https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/por...etrics/testing


It's very comforting that Ohio's positive test rate remains under 7 percent as positive test rates in other states now are above 15 percent.


https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/te...amble/2403956/



One very important indicator is time lag between testing and obtaining results. In some states, the time lag now is reported to be 1-3 weeks, which makes the testing almost useless. Persons can die or be admitted to the hospital before obtaining their results. Asymptomatic persons may spread the virus unaware they are positive, and contact tracing is rendered much less efficient.


https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...th/5386582002/


See post 58 and 60 in this thread for a discussion of effective epidemic policies implemented in other countries. South Korean COVID-19 deaths remain under 300, even though its population is 5 times that of Ohio. Ohio's COVID-19 deaths have passed 3,000. Why do we put up with such incompetency, especially as economic damage similarly is much greater in the U.S. than South Korea.



https://www.city-data.com/forum/ohio...l#post58185303

[TheProf]

^I agree, DeWine came out very strong initially and Ohio was considered a model state in its response to COVID. But since then DeWine backed down with a foolish laissez faire, do your own thing, the heck with masks and gathering approach and, quite logically, Ohio's numbers have spiked big time... and this county-by-county is absurd, esp with a state magnet like Cedar Point, among others, reopening, which is ridiculous in itself...

I initially gave DeWine high marks on this, as well as his other more moderating approach to public policy generally. But sadly with COVID, he's obviously bowing to his wrong-headed, pro-Trump Republican masters. This is not only sad, it's deadly.

[ZnGuy]

Herd immunity is the answer
https://jbhandleyblog.com/home/2020/6/28/secondwave

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by ZnGuy

Herd immunity is the answer
https://jbhandleyblog.com/home/2020/6/28/secondwave

This is from JB Handley. I wouldn't put a lot of stock in what this guy says. He's the anti-vaccine guy who also advocated, without any medical support, that autism is the result of environmental factors. His so-called clinic has been held up to public ridicule on more than one occasion. Also, given the angry political tone of this article, should anyone take him seriously?

Herd immunity is old news. Sweden has been held up by some as herd immunity model... except that, following the practice, the country has seen a spike in infections. Conservatives in the USA were All In on herd immunity back in March and was a rallying cry for states like Florida, Arizona and others... How is that working out?

[oldcarguy49]

OMG how did I knot no about this DeWine guy before? Amazing. I gonna write him in on ballot for President instead of sleepy Joe. He has got a chance!