Some important testimony in Ohio Statehouse this morning as health officials, including the new chief medical officer of @OHdeptofhealth, speaking out against SB311
Bill would prevent ODH from issuing widespread quarantine orders & allows lawmakers to rescind other orders.
311 has already passed Senate. It's moved quickly thru House committee this week ahead of today's floor session.
90 minutes of opposition testimony allotted this morning. Important bill to keep an eye on today.
Folks, I cannot tell you how different it feels to hear actual expert testimony on a COVID-19 related bill
Last night's SB311 testimony came from anti-vaxxer groups, with one fellow claiming contact tracing involved ppl with guns going door-to-door threatening Ohioans.
We're more than halfway thru the allotted time limit for opposition testimony and still on the first person.
This bill is likely to advance from committee with only 1-2 people speaking against.
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SB311 testimony ongoing. While Ohio sets record after record of new cases/hospitalizations, bill sponsor Sen. Kristina Roegner says about 'flattening the curve' -- "you don't hear that term anymore"
Cases are absolutely spiking
More -- Sen. Roegner tries to make the case we're in good shape on hospitalizations; "we're not in any danger certainly as of yet"
Again, Ohio has a record number of people in the hospital for COVID-19 at this very moment and the # just keeps going up
More -- Sen. Roegner then points to a chart showing "hospitalization per reported case"
It is common knowledge re: COVID-19 that hospitalizations are a lagging indicator and, despite our recent hospitalization increase, that doesn't even include all the recent surge in cases
There are countless, literally countless examples of Ohio's COVID-19 skeptics (in Statehouse & elsewhere) pointing to the early projections of 6k, 8k, 10k cases per day & urging Ohio to reopen based on us having not hit those numbers.
Today we have. Those projections are here.
When I wrote in Oct. about the June "Mission accomplished!" letter I wondered how signers reflected on recent surge
Author doubled down, re: those forecasts: “I’ll never forget that. We never got close to that. Not even remotely close.”
I have so many of these I'm not sure where to start. State Sen. Andrew Brenner saying "Clearly the general population is safe from Covid19" and retweeting a message saying "The COVID epidemic is over"
Ohio @GovMikeDeWine is set to address President Trump having tested positive for coronavirus shortly.
Normally does not hold press conf's on Fridays but is following the diagnosis. I'll have updates, videos, etc here in this thread.
DeWine offers best wishes for the president and first lady + all others impacted by the virus. Does a quick update on the numbers (see below), and we're on to questions already.
Just found this amazing news clipping from 1920: the original Ohio Senate chamber ceiling was made of glass, but apparently nobody noticed for decades because it was never cleaned #LateNightHistory
Evergreen
(Dayton Herald, 1906)
Apparently people in 1893 really, really hated the look of the Statehouse
THREAD: This was a striking sequence at today's press conference.
@GovMikeDeWine is explicitly asked about his refusal to call out President Trump, and he proceeds to give a minutes-long answer where he again refuses to call out President Trump.
Part 2 of DeWine answer: "I'm not here to answer every single thing the president says."
And Part 3. Solid job on the question & follow-up from @andy_chow here: