Ohio's stay at home order is scheduled to expire on May 1st but from everything I'm hearing in the daily press conferences, it will continue to be in effect to continue to encourage the citizens of the state to continue making reasonable and rational decisions about leaving home. Large gatherings of more than 10 people are still prohibited.
A slow reopening is happening starting May 1. Elective surgeries will be allowed and other health care providers that closed will be able to open up (dentists and veterinarians etc).
Manufacturing, distribution and construction may reopen on May 4 if mandatory safety requirements are met. Also general office environments are included in this.
May 12 is the date for consumer, retail and services may reopen if they meet mandatory safety requirements. At first the plan was going to require customers at retail businesses to wear face coverings. This was requested by all members of the the business task force that helped to come up with the guidelines. There was a massive amount of resistance to this so it was changed to "highly recommended". In the last 24 hours, there has been resistance the other way... from the businesses that are trying to protect their employees. Can't win situation.
Numbers for Ohio are now at 17,303 with 937 deaths. Of that 17,303 positives, 7,106 of them are: prisoners/prison staff, and health care workers. Long-term care (nursing homes) data is incomplete but what they have released shows about 1,000 positives there.
Ohio has 88 counties and from the time I started tracking (March 16 was first time this data was released) Ohio hit 80 counties with positives on April 6. My small county had its first positive on March 28. On April 15, there were 87 counties with positives. The lone hold out, a small county with only 13,000 people in southeast Ohio (hilly terrain and high unemployment as well) finally had a case on April 28th. The counties with large numbers include the counties that include Cleveland and Columbus and the 2 counties with the prisons with the largest number of positive cases. # 5 of the counties is the one with Toledo and the county with Cincinnati is #6.
I am definitely thinking there will be a second surge in Ohio with the stupid decisions the citizens around me are making. Our leadership is trying to take it slower but also letting people get back to work but I keep seeing the complaints about having to wear a face covering and.... I NEED TO GET A HAIRCUT! Another person I know doesn't want to reschedule her daughter's graduation party from June to early August because she won't have enough time to go shopping for things the daughter will need at college.