Ohio State government has started looking into the state of the prisons on probable ways to ensure that the coronavirus pandemic does not affect the prisons.

“We’re getting calls from other states for advice,” said Governor Mike DeWine at the daily briefing.

“It doesn’t mean a case can’t happen. We have been reviewing for the last few weeks, exactly if there are prisoners there who are not in there for violent crimes, who might be better out instead of in.”

“People with medical problems, their age. So, we are taking a look at this on a case by case basis. I have nothing to announce today. We are not going to turn loose sexual predators. We will be very careful about how we are looking at this,” said Governor DeWine.

According to him, “we’ve made difficult decisions, but we have to get through this. We can’t let this monster come up – we have to keep pushing it down. This is a critical time. We haven’t had anything like this for 102 years, so it has to be that type of response.”

“We want to get kids back to school, we want to open restaurants, open bars — but we just can’t do it yet. Again, this is once in 102 years, we have to do this, and we have to stay at it.”

On challenges being encountered to access the unemployment platform online, Governor DeWine said, “for all of you who have had challenges with the unemployment systems, your voices are being heard and they’re being acted on. Even if you have trouble, your benefits will be backdated to the date that you became eligible.”

“For employers and employees: A grace period was enacted on March 20 for employers that can’t pay their premiums. There was also an order for out-of-network care. Insurers must provide the same rates that they would in-network. They are also required to pay for COVID19 testing.”

Also, Ohio Lt. Governor Jon Husted disclosed that Battelle Technology has processed the first 3,500 N95 masks through sterilization, adding that, “they are now ramping up”.

In her update, Ohio Director of Health, Dr Amy Acton said, “what we are doing now will get us out of this faster and back to work faster.  I feel confident that we are using the best modeling possible. All models agree that Social Distancing is essential.”

Meanwhile, Governor Mike DeWine’s daily news conferences regarding the COVID-19 now have translations available through the Ohio Channel’s YouTube page. After the news conference is archived, closed captioning is available in multiple languages.