Professor breaks down Ohio virus presence

Says state missed opportunity

With grocery store aisles lying barren, social distancing starting and major events canceled or postponed, the United States is feeling the heat of the novel coronavirus.

Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton said March 13 that it is estimated that there are at least 100,000 unaccounted cases of COVID-19 in Ohio.

A Lorain County Community College professor and virus expert believes in the estimate.

Harry Kestler, who has a doctorate degree and is a microbiology professor at LCCC, has 35 years of experience as a molecular virologist, which studies viruses at the molecular level.

Kestler said he has worked as an HIV virologist for the entirety of that time.

“The virus has seeded itself in Ohio, and it did so probably a couple weeks ago,” he said. “We missed an opportunity to really shut it down.”

Kestler said he thinks that closure of all Ohio K-12 schools for three weeks issued by Gov. Mike DeWine was within reason.

“What the governor has done is completely rational and sane,” he said.

Regulations on nursing homes is coming next, which house a most vulnerable population: the elderly, Kestler said.

“That’s where it is deadliest,” Kestler said.

With 13 confirmed cases in the state as of the afternoon of March 13, Kestler said he contributes the inaccurate count to lack of testing and a general disbelief that COVID-19 is not as rampant as people think.

People prefer to think the crisis is not real, he said.

That lack of testing is accounting for a higher death rate, which is calculated by confirmed cases and deaths linked to the virus.

Kestler estimates that it’s even lower than the current 3.6 percentage of global deaths from COVID-19 because of under reporting.

To understand the full impact and death rate of the virus, Kestler said not only is universal testing necessary, but also using a different test to see how many have previously had the virus.

Drive-thru testing can be implemented, which allows a person in a parking lot to swab those without the risk of people standing in line or sitting in waiting rooms.

Therefore, if testing becomes more widespread, Kestler said a jump in confirmed cases will happen, which will lead to a lower percentage of deaths.