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Coronavirus: DeWine reschedules to Wednesday; Trump takes positive tone on masks

(UPDATE @ 7:05 p.m.) Gov. Mike DeWine canceled his Tuesday briefing on the state’s coronavirus response and rescheduled for Wednesday afternoon, his office announced.

The cancellation was because of the news conference announcing federal charges against Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, and four others involving a public corruption and racketeering conspiracy involving $60 million.

>>U.S. Attorney, FBI to announce charges to $60 million bribe to state official, associates today

Also Tuesday afternoon, President Trump resumed his White House briefing on the federal government’s response to the pandemic. Tuesday’s briefing was the first since April.

Here are some of the highlights from the president’s news briefing:

  • The president, who addressed reporters alone, asked that everyone, especially young people, wear a mask if they cannot socially distance. “Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact.” Later, taking a mask from his pants pocket, he said he “will use it gladly, no problem with it.”
  • He called wearing masks “patriotic,” a change from his months-long stance against masks. ”If you’re close together, I would say, ‘put on the mask.’ "
  • “Think about patriotism,” he said of wearing a mask. “Maybe it helps.... I wear it when appropriate.”
  • “The vaccines are coming and they’re coming a lot sooner than anyone thought possible,” he said.
  • “Some areas of country doing very well, others doing less well. It will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better. I don’t like saying that, but that’s the way it is,” Trump said.
  • Asked whether he would accept help from China if that country developed a vaccine first, Trump said, “We’re willing to work with anybody who is going to get us a good result.” This response came several minutes after he continued to blame China for the outbreak.

PUBLIC HEALTH ADVISORY SYSTEM LEVELS:

  • Alert Level 1 (Yellow): This level means a county has triggered zero or one of the indicators, and there is an active exposure and spread. Auglaize, Logan, Champaign, Darke, and Shelby are at this level.
  • Alert Level 2 (Orange): This level means a county has triggered two or three indicators and there is an increased risk of exposure and spread. Counties at this level are seeing cases that are growing in the last two weeks. Preble, Mercer, Miami, Greene Clinton, Warren and Clark are at this level.
  • Alert Level 3 (Red): This level means a county has triggered four or five indicators, and there is a very high exposure and spread. Risk is very high. Butler and Montgomery are at this level.
  • Alert Level 4 (Purple): The highest level means a county has triggered six or seven indicators, and there is severe exposure and spread. Officials say to stay home as much as possible when at this level. There are no current counties on this list but Hamilton and Butler are on the watch list.

Other things to know today, Tuesday:

LATEST STATE DATA: As of Tuesday afternoon, there have been at least 77,215 confirmed or probable cases in the state, 3,219 deaths, and 9,736 hospitalizations, according to the Ohio Department of Health. 53,077 people are presumed to have recovered from the virus in the state.

Ohio has an estimated population of approximately 11.7 million, census records show.

Of the state’s positive cases, 6% are from Ohio’s prisons.

Of the state’s positive cases, 15% are from long-term care facilities (nursing homes, assisted living)

[ Local cases, deaths reported to Ohio Department of Health ]

The state reported that a total of 1,195,771 people have been tested in Ohio, which is about 10 percent of the population.

In the state, 9,100 cases are health care workers, which is 12 percent of the cases.

[ Local cases, deaths reported to Ohio Department of Health ]

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