Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has urged churches to utilize online tools and facilities to bring Sunday services to home rather than meet as a congregation to contain the spread of coronavirus in the state.

”“I want to thank our churches. They are doing amazing things online to bring services into homes while protecting people,” said Governor Mike DeWine.

“Those of you still doing services, we ask you not to do that. It is not wise. It is a very real risk to your members and everyone else. Let’s use technology,”
“We made the decision when we did the order not to infringe on religious liberty, but this is a critical time — for the safety of everyone, I can’t imagine that there is anyone who would want to take that risk.”

According to him, “It’s complicated, but you don’t have to trust the modeling to see what’s happening in other states. We are planning for worst-case scenarios with the hope that everything we do will take us away from that number.”

“We are lengthening the onset of the peak time and flattening the curve. The flattening is happening in Ohio, but how much we flatten will depend on all of us.”

Also, Ohio Health Director Dr Amy Acton said, “The numbers are a range. I know 8,000-10,000 sounds like a lot, but that really isn’t a huge amount of Ohioans.  We want it to spread slower, but it is spreading. When we stay home, the effectiveness will show up in our data a few weeks from now.”