Ohio's K-12 Students Will Continue Remote Learning For The Rest Of The School Year

Ohio schools will continue teaching students remotely for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year. 

Gov. Mike DeWine announced the decision Monday, two weeks before his school closing order was set to expire.  

Parents, teachers and school administrators expressed concerns about the virus and continuity with just a few weeks remaining in the school year, DeWine said.

"The virus continues. We have flattened the curve but it remains dangerous," DeWine said. "We also know young people are carriers."

In March, DeWine ordered school buildings to remain closed until May 1, the day the current stay-at-home order expires. 

There are talks of possibly having a blended school system in the fall, meaning districts can choose to have in-person as well as remote learning. DeWine said it would be up to the districts.

"One of the things that I think is very strong about our Ohio school system is that it's local," DeWine said. "As these decisions are made, we are going to allow a great deal of flexibility — as we should — for the local schools because what they find in their decisions and how their district looks is very different."

No decisions have been made about fall, which DeWine said will depend on the spread of COVID-19. 

DeWine said as he considers school-related decisions in the future, there are several groups about which he has particular concerns: children with developmental needs, health challenges, limited or no access to the internet and those without a supportive home.

As of Monday, the Ohio Department of Health reported 12,909 total cases of COVID-19 — that includes confirmed and probable cases under a new definition by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's a sharp uptick from the 11,602 cases reported Sunday. 

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ohio
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Dr. Amy Acton, the director of the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), attributed the increase to mass testing inside prisons. More than 2,400 inmates have tested positive so far, though a large portion are asymptomatic. 

DeWine also said recent data shows COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting African-Americans, both in Ohio and the nation. 

According to the ODH website, the racial distribution of confirmed cases includes: 

• 49 percent white
• 21 percent African-American
• 1 percent Asian
• 7 percent biracial
• 10 percent identify as other
• and for 11 percent, their race is unknown

The state is putting together a group called the Minority Health Strike Force to identify why the virus is affecting certain races more than others and to find solutions like easier access to health care. 

DeWine addressed issues of transparency with state data. Health officials have to be careful to protect individual privacy when releasing data, he said.

Starting next week, data will be available for Ohioans to download so they can do their own analyses.There will also be more dashboards available next week on the ODH website that will include information from hospitals, local health departments and more.

Last week, ODH took down the list of nursing homes and assisted-living facilities in the state with confirmed cases after officials found inconsistencies in the data. The list is being corrected and will be updated every Wednesday at 2 p.m. on the ODH website.

COVID-19 cases have been steadily increasing over the last few days, though models are showing Ohio is currently in its peak, which Acton said will eventually start to decline. 

But when the state begins to slowly start reopen May 1, DeWine and Acton both warned the virus isn't going away anytime soon, and the curve of cases will fluctuate. 

"We will not stay flat," Acton said. "We will go down. And when we go down, we will see bumps." 

DeWine did not release any details relating to the state's reopening plan.