Gov. Mike DeWine says it is imperative for the state to ward off a spike of COVID-19 cases as the economy begins to reopen. He says one way of accomplishing that is to increase coronavirus testing.
To show the importance of testing, DeWine got tested for COVID-19 during his live statewide briefing on Tuesday, along with First Lady Fran DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.
DeWine says the state is working on increasing accessibility to testing. As the governor notes, more testing could lead to revealing a higher number of cases.
However, that's why DeWine says it's important to track the percentage of people who are testing positive, known as the positivity rate. Ohio's positivity rate has been between 4-6% since May, a stat he says he sees every day but isn't posted online in the state's coronavirus dashboard.
"When I leave here today, I'll go see exactly what we're putting up, I'll compare that with what I'm seeing, and we'll try to share more data," DeWine says.
On Tuesday, the state had conducted a total of 667,077 tests and reported a total of 42,767 cases. That shows a positivity rate of 6.4%.
DeWine says they're trying to increase awareness about the importance of masks, social distancing and testing. Three ads will be running online and on television over the next week to help in that effort.
The push from DeWine for more testing in Ohio comes as President Donald Trump suggests that he asked his staff to slow down coronavirus testing. White House officials later said the president was joking when he made those comments.
