Gov. Mike DeWine announced that about 5,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine are expected to come to Dayton each week and will be used at the Dayton Convention Center mass vaccination clinic, which will start operations next week.
The announcement was made during this afternoon’s coronavirus news conference.
The press conference comes about 24 hours after the Ohio General Assembly overrode DeWine’s veto of Senate Bill 22, places severe limitations on emergency health orders from the Governor as well as having a similar impact on orders from county health agencies. DeWine said he hopes the state can move on from the bill and work together to put an end to the pandemic, but did not rule out there being a constitutionality challenge in court at some point.
>> Lawmakers override DeWine veto, restriction limitations back on
The Ohio Auditor’s Office also released it’s audit of the state’s health department on Wednesday.
>> Ohio COVID-19 death, hospitalization data flagged in state audit
The following announcements have been made:
- The mass vaccination clinic at the Dayton Convention Center is expected to begin next Wednesday. The clinic is expected to get 5,000 doses of vaccine per week. The doses are expected to be Johnson & Johnson. Signups for the clinic are expected to go live on gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov on Saturday, DeWine said.
- DeWine said expanding the vaccination age ability has help fill the gaps where appointments hadn’t been filling. Beginning Monday, the state will be working to monitor and strategically place vaccine where demand is. “You will see us being more aggressive in moving things around,” DeWine said.
- Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said if Ohioans are planning to travel this Spring they are urged to get vaccinated, wear a mask during the trip and maintain social distancing. If you haven’t been vaccinated, you’re urged to limit activity outside your home for a couple weeks and get tested quickly if any symptoms come up. Overall, the state is encouraging Ohioans to consider staying home this Spring.
- The state has started to see an uptick in the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19. “We’re not deeply concerned about this yet,” DeWine said.
- Vanderhoff said COVID-19 has seen about 90-100 days between spikes throughout the pandemic. He said we are at about day 90 now. He said the state is seeing more and more of the COVID-19 variants, but he is encouraged at where the state is with vaccinations and being ahead of the variant spread. He echoed that the state is in a race to get enough people vaccinated quick enough to curb case increases.
- The state will be listing the 50-plus nursing homes across the state who have not used the state’s vaccination program to make sure residents and staff are having access to vaccinations, DeWine said.
- Ohio saw a slightly higher case count per 100,000 residents this week with 146.9 cases per 100,000 residents.
- Clark County remained at the top spot in the state for cases per 100,000 residents.
- Ohio saw the lowest number of red counties this week since Oct. 29, however several local counties have gone up at least one level this week. Auglaize County jumped from yellow to red. Mercer, Darke, Shelby, Logan and Preble county are now at orange. The remainder of the Miami Valley is at red.
- Over 3 million Ohioans have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
- The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is partnering with Google to help sort out potentially fraudulent unemployment claims, DeWine said.