Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is rejecting a proposal from a Republican lawmaker who wants to cancel the state of emergency order he issued at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March.
Ohio Public Radio's Karen Kasler reports.
Representative Diane Grendell says her bill would allow things to, in her words, “go back to normal” – with people being allowed to make their own decisions on masks and social distancing. Grendell, who has questioned the state’s coronavirus data, says Ohio has to live with this virus like with flu.
“The flu is far higher, far higher, and we don’t make people take masks for the flu.”
But the Ohio Department of Health says the death rate for COVID is 3-4%, with the seasonal flu usually well below .1%. Recent data from the CDC showed 94% of those who died of COVID had another underlying health condition such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease – which millions of Ohioans also have.
