Gov. Mike DeWine announced the extension of the Stay At Home order saying the continued practice of social distancing and the closure of non-essential businesses gives medical staff the time they need to fight coronavirus.
The new Stay At Home order will extend social distancing and safe workplace requirements for essential businesses until May 1.
DeWine says these mitigation efforts buys the state more time to build up capacity and equipment for Ohio's nurses, doctors, and other medical staff.
"We are in a race. What we do each day impacts our defenders, our defenders are the people on the front lines," says DeWine. "The nurses, the doctors, hospital personnel, people who work in nursing homes, these are the people who really are heroes and in the weeks ahead we're going to see them do what they have to do."
The revised order creates the Dispute Resolution Panel to offer decisions on complaints from businesses that believe they're being treated unfairly by their local public health department compared to similar businesses in another public health department's jurisdiction. DeWine says the panel will have final say on these complaints.
It also requires stores to limit the number of people in their buildings and orders wedding receptions to not have gatherings of more than 10 people.
DeWine says he understands the sacrifices that are being made in order to follow the Stay At Home order, he says "The action we're taking today is action that I know, I know will save lives."
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted also announced a new website to help connect essential businesses that are still operating with workers looking for jobs.
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