Health Care
Telemedicine booms as Ohioans stay home
With Ohio’s stay-at-home order extended to May 1, more and more people are utilizing telemedicine as a way to get their care while reducing their risk of contracting COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. That now includes those who have not yet seen a provider, but need to see someone during the stay-at-home […]
Ohio AG appeals abortion health order decision
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office filed an appeal on Thursday asking a court to release them from a restraining order allowing abortions to continue under a coronavirus health order until the appeal can be decided. A U.S. District Judge ruled partially in favor of Planned Parenthood and other clinics who perform abortions in the state, […]
Judge temporarily halts abortion ban as part of coronavirus health order
A judge has temporarily halted enforcement by the state saying surgical abortions are non-essential services under a coronavirus health order. Judge Michael R. Barrett of the U.S. District Court Southern District of Ohio Western Division issued the temporary restraining order Monday. The ACLU announced Monday they would be taking the Ohio Department of Health to […]
6,000 coronavirus cases per day? 8,000? OSU researchers on forecasting pandemics
Since the new coronavirus was first detected in Ohio, state Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton repeatedly emphasizes the need to “flatten the curve” at regular afternoon pandemic briefings. Meanwhile, a team at Ohio State University’s Infectious Disease Institute turns mounds of discrete data points into models that try to predict how many people […]
Reversing ‘reckless’ decision, FDA waives limits on coronavirus mask cleaners
Federal regulators removed daily quantity restrictions Sunday on an Ohio company’s new technology that it says allows health care providers to sterilize N95 respirators, masks in short supply as researchers forecast dramatic surges in hospital demand due to COVID-19. The Food and Drug Administration removed its previous restriction limiting Battelle Memorial Institute to decontaminating 10,000 […]
Health care workers using expired gear during pandemic and ‘hoping for the best’
WASHINGTON — States are receiving old or expired medical supplies from the federal stockpile. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advice: Use them anyway. The shortage of vital medical supplies, such as masks and ventilators, in the face of COVID-19 has led public health officials to advise hospital workers to reuse personal protective equipment […]
Ohio legislature addresses economy, health care workforce, and taxes in coronavirus bill
In the hundreds of pages of the Ohio legislature’s omnibus bill to address coronavirus, state representatives and senators attempted to address many of the state’s concerns, from the economy to the health care sector. The bill was passed by both houses on Wednesday, on its way to Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk for signature. With an […]
State, abortion clinic lawyers now clashing over health order specifics
State leaders declined to comment Tuesday on orders the Ohio Attorney General’s Office made to halt surgical abortions as part of a coronavirus-related health order. In an order signed March 17 by Ohio Department of Health director Dr. Amy Acton, non-essential and elective surgeries were halted in order to conserve personal protective equipment, or PPEs. […]
With Cleveland COVID-19 cases on the rise, MetroHealth board member says to ‘reopen America’
There were still 10 more minutes until Ohio’s “stay at home” order was set to go in effect, but Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno was already complaining about it. “We can’t shelter in place forever,” Moreno said on Twitter late Monday evening, “or there may not be anything on the other side!” Moreno is a prominent […]
Federal funds coming to help state community health centers, seniors
Federal funding will be coming to the state, targeted at helping community health centers during the coronavirus outbreak. Community health centers across the state are each getting a piece of a $3.2 million in monies secured as part of a coronavirus funding passed recently. The money is being distributed from U.S. Department of Health and […]
Ohioans get vastly different COVID-19 messages from Ohio leaders, Trump
One offered sympathy, the other sarcasm. Gov. Mike DeWine was sober and pensive as he addressed Ohioans about the state’s first COVID-19 death, a Toledo man who happened to be an old friend of his. The governor quoted scripture at length and offered condolences to the deceased’s family. At his presidential lectern a day later, […]
AG’s office orders stop on ‘non-essential’ abortions; legislators, advocates condemn move
Legislators and advocates around the state are reacting after the Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s Office ordered two Planned Parenthood clinics in Ohio to stop performing surgical abortions during the coronavirus outbreak, calling them “non-essential and elective.” In a letter to Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio’s Cincinnati Surgery Center on March 20, Deputy Attorney General […]