Statehouse News Bureau

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DeWine Pushing For Awareness Of Masks, COVID-19 Testing

By Andy Chow

Published June 23, 2020 at 11:10 PM EDT

Gov. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) [Office of Gov. Mike DeWine] — Gov. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio)

It is imperative for the state to ward off a spike of COVID-19 as the economy begins to reopen, one way of accomplishing that, according to Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday, is to increase coronavirus testing.

DeWine said the state is working on increasing accessibility to COVID-19 testing. As the governor noted, more testing could lead to revealing a higher number of cases. However, that's why DeWine said it's important to track the percentage of people who are testing positive, known as the positivity rate.

Ohio’s positivity rate has been between 4 and 6 percent since May, according to the governor – a stat he said he sees every day but isn't posted online.

"When I leave here today I'll go see exactly what we're putting up, I'll compare that with what I'm seeing, and we'll try to share more data," DeWine said.

On Tuesday, the state had conducted a total of 667,077 tests and reported a total of 42,767 cases. That shows a positivity rate of 6.4 percent.

DeWine’s push for more testing in Ohio comes as President Donald Trump suggested at a political rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma that he asked his staff to slow down coronavirus testing. White House officials later said the president was joking when he made those comments.

To show the importance of testing, DeWine got tested for COVID-19 during his live statewide briefing on Tuesday, along with First Lady Fran DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.

DeWine said he is trying to increase awareness about the importance of masks, social distancing, and testing. Three ads will be running online and on television over the next week to help in that effort.