Ohio county fairs limited for the summer; child-care facilities can increase capacity

Jul. 28--COLUMBUS -- With new coronavirus infections still climbing, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Tuesday that he will scale back activities at county fairs for the remainder of the summer while relaxing coronavirus restrictions at child-care facilities beginning next month.

His announcement came the same day that Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he was concerned about rising coronavirus positivity rates in the Midwest, while Mr. DeWine, however, said some coronavirus indicators in Ohio are improving.

"We believe we're starting to see a plateau in some of these numbers, but certainly not all of these numbers," he said, citing a decline in ER visits since July 12.

The governor said the state health department will issue an order prohibiting rides, games, and grandstand events at county fairs beginning on July 31. The remaining fairs will be limited to junior fairs, which feature livestock, photography, and science exhibitions.

"It's becoming increasingly clear that we cannot have a regular, safe fair in the Ohio COVID summer of 2020. We simply cannot do that," he said.

"I think we preserved the essence of the fairs, but I'm sorry that this simply did not work."

Mr. DeWine cited coronavirus clusters traced to county fairs where people weren't social distancing or wearing masks.

"Even after the mask order was put on, we've seen fairs that clearly were not enforcing any kind of mask order, if at all," he said."That's just a real shame."

Lucas County's fair was earlier this month, but so far no local cases have been linked to the event, which was sparsely attended.

Mr. DeWine cited 19 new infections linked to a single fair, and a handful tied to others.

The governor also announced that on Aug. 9, child-care providers may return to their normal capacity and ratios while observing safety measures including facial coverings and temperature checks.

Providers will be given a choice of whether to operate at pre-pandemic capacity or receive a subsidy to offset the cost of keeping class sizes reduced.

Mr. DeWine said he heard from parents who are having a difficult time getting their children into daycare. It's also clear, he said, there will be more demand for child-care services as schools reopen and parents return to work.

"It's clear, particularly with schools being ready to start back up and a lot of different demands being put on parents, that that system would no longer work," he said.

The governor also cited instances of coronavirus spread at parties, fund-raising events, and poker runs to underscore the importance of observing the statewide mask mandate. An event at a Henry County winery earlier this month has been linked to 83 infections.

Ohio reported 1,320 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of recorded infections to 86,497. There were also 140 new hospitalizations and 38 new deaths. In Wood County, 801 total cases have been detected with 58 deaths, according to figures provided by the local health department. Lucas County has tallied 4,132 cases with 293 overall deaths.

Dr. Fauci told ABC News'George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America Tuesday that he was concerned about rising cases in Ohio and other Midwestern states. Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, expressed similar concerns to Ohio officials over the weekend.

"Some of the other states" -- Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky -- "that are starting to have that early indication that the percent of cases ... is starting to go up, that's a surefire sign that you've got to be really careful," Dr. Fauci said.

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