It’s official: Ohio’s economy will slowly start opening in phases on May 1.
“My heart aches for the businessmen and women who have not been able to work, who are looking at savings going down every day, the people who work in those businesses, people who are unemployed — one cannot overstate the tragedy of this. So we’ve got to get moving,” said Gov. Mike DeWine during his daily coronavirus press briefing on Monday. “We’ve got to get people back to work. We’ve got to open things up. At the same time, we’ve got to protect Ohioans.”
DeWine said the goals for responsibly reopening Ohio remain the same: to keep employees, customers and their families safe as they get back to work while the virus is still out there.
And this new plan comes with a name: Responsible RestartOhio.
Responsible RestartOhio has five basic practices to keep people safe as they get back to work. Those practices have been updated since the initial press conference, specifically in regards to who does and does not need to wear a cloth face mask. (If you have questions about face masks, the Ohio Department of Health has a Q&A thing here.)
Here’s the most recent five-point plan:
His May timeline so far includes reopening certain health care on May 1, then manufacturing, distribution and construction as well as general office environments on May 4 and consumer, retail and services on May 12.
All of those sectors will need to follow mandatory guidelines to operate, including the five listed above.
But here is what is continuing to remain closed under Ohio’s stay at home order, which has been extended through May 29. Large gatherings of more than 10 people also still banned.
- K-12 schools and daycares
- Restaurants and bars (carry-out and delivery services are permitted)
- Personal appearance/beauty services (includes hair salons, day spas, nail salons, barber shops, tattoo parlors, body piercing locations, tanning facilities, massage therapy locations and similar businesses)
- Older adult day care services and senior centers
- Adult day support or vocational habilitation services in congregate settings
- Rooming and boarding houses, and workers’ camps
- Entertainment/recreation/gymnasium sites (includes, but is not limited to: All places of public amusement, whether indoors or outdoors, such as laser tag facilities, roller skating rinks, ice skating rinks, arcades, indoor miniature golf facilities, bowling alleys, indoor trampoline parks, indoor water parks, arcades, and adult and child skill or chance game facilities, including gambling)
- Auditoriums, stadiums, arenas
- Movie theatres, performance theatres, and concert and music halls
- Public recreation centers and indoor sports facilities
- Parades, fairs, festivals, and carnivals
- Amusement parks, theme parks, outdoor water parks, children’s play centers, playgrounds, and funplexes
- Aquariums, zoos, museums, historical sites, and similar institutions
- Country clubs and social clubs
- Spectator sports, recreational sports tournaments and organized recreational sports leagues
- Health clubs, fitness centers, workout facilities, gyms, and yoga studios
- Swimming pools, whether public or private, except swimming pools for single households
- Residential and day camps
- Campgrounds, including recreational camps and recreational vehicle (RV) parks (excludes people living in campground RVs with no other viable place of residence; people living in cabins, mobile homes, or other fixed structures that are meant for single families and where preexisting residential activity already has been established
This article appears in Apr 15 – May 5, 2020.
