Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, left, and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted wear their masks while walking into the daily coronavirus news conference Friday, April 17, 2020 at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. (Doral Chenoweth/The Columbus Dispatch via AP)

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Mike DeWine decided to keep K-12 schools closed for the rest of this academic year and said there’s a chance they won’t reopen in the fall.

“There is the possibility that we will have a blended system this fall — some distance learning as well as some in-person learning,” DeWine said Monday. “That’s just a possibility, and each school district is different.”

DeWine closed school buildings starting March 17 until April 6. On March 30, he extended the closure to May 1.

He said Monday during the “remainder of the school year, our young people will continue to go to school remotely.”

The governor said he understands how disappointing this is, but to reopen schools for just a few weeks isn’t worth the risk during the pandemic.

He expressed concern about children with special development needs, health challenges, with limited or no access to the internet, and those who don’t have a “supportive home life.”

Regarding kindergarten through grade 12, DeWine said, “I know parents, teachers and administrators are anxious about an answer about the fall, but we’re not in the position to make that decision yet. I know that schools and superintendents and educators across Ohio are working on some innovative solutions as they continue to do this planning.”

DeWine added as decisions are made, “we’re going to allow a great deal of flexibility within board parameters for the local schools. What you find in one district is different from another district.”

When asked about reopening colleges and universities in the fall, DeWine said Monday he didn’t know.

Dr. Amy Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health, said, “We have to slowly go back in a way where when the hot spots occur, you can put them out immediately and not have to dial back. We’re all working behind the scenes to make schools and businesses safer.”

Last Thursday, DeWine said he planned gradually to reopen the state beginning May 1.

Since then, he hasn’t provided many details except to say Ohio needs to balance safety with its economy and that general precautions already in place — such as social distancing, people staying at home as much as possible, limiting the number of people in a location and surfaces being cleaned frequently — would occur.

“There is no doubt that small businesses are being hit very hard,” DeWine said Monday. “One of the things we’re working on now is identifying what businesses we can start to open back up. We closed businesses because we didn’t want to have to overrun our hospitals. We didn’t want to have to ration ventilators.”

DeWine said he doesn’t want to reopen businesses and then have them close a few weeks later.

“We’re trying to let businesses open back up while not putting us at risk of having the whole health care system overwhelmed and then shut them down again,” he said. “We’re trying to get it right, but we understand this is very difficult for everyone.”

REPORTING DATA

DeWine on Monday also addressed reporting COVID-19 at long-term care facilities and hospitals.

Data on long-term care facilities were posted on the ODH website for about a day last week before it was removed Thursday. DeWine said the data came down because it was inconsistent and inaccurate.

He expects accurate information as well as a breakdown of COVID-19 cases by residents and staff to be back on the website — coronavirus.ohio.gov — by next week and updated weekly on Wednesdays. Aggregated data of deaths at nursing homes and assisted-living facilities at the county level will be provided to the public likely starting next week, as well as the names of hospitals where care providers have contracted the virus and how many have it, DeWine said.

“We are balancing our obligation to protect privacy with our desire to be transparent,” DeWine said.

Also, with novel coronavirus “disproportionately impacting African Americans in Ohio and the country,” DeWine said he was creating a “minority health strike force” to focus on the issue.

Ursel McElroy, director of the Ohio Department of Aging and a Youngstown native, will head the task force — a member of which is Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown. State statistics show 21 percent of those who’ve tested positive for the virus are African American, but African Americans make up 14 percent of Ohio’s population.

COVID-19 CASES

The Mahoning Valley reported three new COVID-19 deaths Monday — two in Mahoning County and one in Trumbull County.

The two Mahoning County deaths were a woman at least 80 years old Monday and a woman in her 50s Saturday, according to data on the ODH website.

The Trumbull death was reported by its county combined health district after the state released its daily data. The district didn’t provide information on the latest fatality.

Overall, Mahoning County has had 50 COVID-19 deaths as of Monday, the second-most among counties in Ohio. Cuyahoga was No. 1 with 55 deaths.

About half the COVID-19 deaths in Mahoning were long-term care residents, according to its public health district.

The number of COVID-19 deaths in Trumbull County increased to 21 and remained at 14 in Columbiana County on Monday.

That’s a total of 85 deaths for the three counties as of Monday. There were 49 COVID-19 deaths in the Valley a week prior.

Meanwhile, Geauga County saw its COVID-19 fatalities jump to nine Monday from four Sunday, and Ashtabula County increased to six Monday from five Sunday.

The state confirmed 509 COVID-19 deaths as of Monday, up from 471 Sunday.

Ohio also posted 12,919 confirmed cases of the virus Monday, up from 11,602 Sunday and 9,107 Friday.

The statewide number quickly has increased because of COVID-19 outbreaks at state prisons in Marion and Pickaway counties. Marion had the most cases at 2,073 and Pickaway was fourth with 1,246 cases as of Monday.

Mahoning County reported 608 cases and 213 hospitalizations, up from 589 and 210, respectively, Sunday.

Mahoning had the seventh-most cases and the fourth-most hospitalizations of any Ohio county. It’s the 12th-most populous in the state.

Trumbull County confirmed 246 cases and 115 hospitalizations Monday, up from 240 cases and 114 hospitalizations Sunday.

The Ohio Department of Health reported 249 cases in Trumbull, but the county’s combined health district said Monday three previous cases were transferred to other jurisdictions.

Trumbull had the 10th-most cases and seventh-most hospitalizations while being the 15th-most populous county in the state.

Columbiana County reported 182 cases and 84 hospitalizations Monday, up from 167 cases and 83 hospitalizations a day earlier. About half of the county’s cases are inmates and staff at Elkton, a federal prison.

Statewide, 2,653 people were hospitalized as of Monday because of the virus, up from 2,565 Sunday.

Also in Ohio, 798 people were in intensive-care units Monday, up from 765 Sunday.