As infections rise, Dewine imposes a 3-week curfew
Stay-at-home order an effort to turn tide of COVID-19 cases
Gov. Mike Dewine on Tuesday announced a three-week, overnight stay-at-home order for Ohioans from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. starting Thursday in a quest to help turn around COVID-19 infections as daily cases tripled in the last three weeks.
Dewine also said most retail businesses are expected to be closed by 10 p.m. under the curfew, with the exception of necessities such as grocery stores, pharmacies and restaurants for carry-out and deliveries.
“Basically, we want people home by 10 o’clock,” Dewine said, adding that people who have to work late nights and early mornings are permitted to do so.
Emergency and medical travel are permitted, as are grocery shopping and picking up carry-out meals, he said. One also may leave home to care for another in need.
Despite his previous threat to close them beginning Thursday, the governor said restaurants and bars will remain open for carry-out and delivery past 10 p.m., and dine-in service will continue during hours prior to then.
A Dewine spokesman said the order applies to
Gov. Mike Dewine announced the new restrictions as Ohio posted 7,079 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
individuals – not businesses. Some businesses will choose to close because people cannot travel to a casino, for example, past 10 p.m., he said.
The curfew order had not been signed as of mid-afternoon Tuesday and was not immediately available.
The governor said those violating the curfew could be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor for violating a public health order, but he did not expect police officers to generally enforce the curfew. “We’re not looking for a heavy hand here,” he said.
Dewine called on Ohioans to “wear masks and reduce contacts” to help turn the tide of virus infections. “The goal is to have fewer contacts … if you can slow these contacts down, it will go a long way to slowing this virus down.”
Asked about the science justifying the curfew, Dewine said, “We have doctors we consult and the basic science is, fewer contacts, less spread. … Anytime you can reduce contact, statistically, you will reduce spread.”
Dewine announced the new restrictions as Ohio posted 7,079 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. The cases represented a drop from recent days, but it still was sixth-highest day of the pandemic.
Hospitalizations swelled to a neardaily record of 368, with a record 3,648 virus patients now needing advanced medical care. A record 897 people were in intensive-care units. Reported deaths stood at 30, a bit more than typical.
The broad spread of the virus is evidenced in the rate of COVID-19 tests returning with positive results.
The positivity rate continues to climb, hitting 13.8% on the latest available day (Sunday) while also increasing the seven-day average to 12.8%. The seven-day average was five times lower at 2.7% before cases began to climb last month.
Dewine fears hospitals could be overwhelmed if new daily cases continue to surge.
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce and Ohio Manufacturers’ Association also endorsed the curfew as the best of unpleasant options.
“Shutting down our economy again, or even closing certain businesses altogether, is definitely not the solution,” Ohio Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Andrew E. Doehrel and Ohio Manufacturers’ Association President Eric Burkland said in a statement.
“A temporary curfew may be the least disruptive option to our recovering economy that can be taken right now to give our health care providers necessary breathing room.”
A record 8,071 infections was set on Friday and then dropped slightly, including to 7,268 on Monday – the fourth-highest day of the pandemic.
Dewine has campaigned for Ohioans to wear masks, practice social distancing, avoid unessential travel, work from home and to not partake of gatherings, including Thanksgiving celebrations with friends and extended family. “COVID fatigue” is blamed for Ohioans dropping their guard – and their masks.
The governor threatened in his Nov. 11 statewide address to close restaurants, bars and fitness centers on Thursday if COVID-19 cases remain high – and they have. But, he backed off that threat on Tuesday. Fitness centers also will remain open before 10 p.m.
Dewine has received pushback from restaurant and bar owners who say their spots are not behind COVID spread, and business groups balked at Dewine’s consideration of a late-night curfew for retail, sources said.
Bars and restaurants face a last call that will be earlier than 10.
Underlining that Dewine will not close restaurants, John Barker, president of the Ohio Restaurant Association John Barker, said during the governor’s news conference that he supports a curfew. “We believe a curfew is the best choice to slow things down now,” he said, with food service locations available for late-night carryout and delivery.
On Monday, a revised mask order required customers and employees of retail businesses to wear masks under threat of a closure of up to 24 hours if a warning was ignored and a second violation occurred. Dewine said mask wearing had improved even before the order took effect.
Beginning Tuesday, another public health order imposed new restrictions on socializing at banquet hall events, wedding receptions and funeral wakes, which Dewine has described as leading to “rampant spread” of the virus.
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-urbana, a conservative champion of President Donald Trump (who denounced DeWine on Monday) took to Twitter to critique the governor’s orders, writing: “In Ohio: You can play music at a wedding. But you can’t dance to it. You can play games at an arcade. But you better not socialize in a common area. You can order a beer at 9:59 p.m. But not 10:01 p.m. Makes total sense.”
Ohio surpassed the 300,000-case mark of the pandemic on Monday, with the COVID-19 death toll now totaling 5,772.
Dispatch reporters Patrick Cooley, Jim Weiker and Mark Williams contributed to this story. rludlow@dispatch.com @Randyludlow