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WKSU, our public radio partners in Ohio and across the region and NPR are all continuing to work on stories on the latest developments with the coronavirus and COVID-19 so that we can keep you informed.

Tech Team Working On Ohio Unemployment Website

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted
Office of Gov. Mike DeWine
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted

State officials say they are putting every resource they have into ramping up Ohio's unemployment compensation website. The site has been crashing due to the massive influx in requests.

The unemployment compensation fund went from taking in a few thousand requests just two weeks ago to more than 150,000 requests in the last week.

People around the state have voiced their frustration with the website which has reportedly crashed due to overwhelming volume in requests

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted says they have a tech team working overtime to build up capacity for the site.

"We're going to make this available to you. We're doing everything we can to bring the resources to bear to solve this problem. I ask you know that we are empathetic to your situation," says Husted.

The state was offering daily unemployment filing numbers but a federal regulation is being enforced to make that a weekly report.

Husted said the site had more than 400,000 visits on Tuesday, the day Ohio's Stay At Home order went into effect.

Copyright 2020 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Andy Chow is a general assignment state government reporter who focuses on environmental, energy, agriculture, and education-related issues. He started his journalism career as an associate producer with ABC 6/FOX 28 in Columbus before becoming a producer with WBNS 10TV.