Gov. Mike DeWine in his news conference on Tuesday discussed students returning to college and school this week and last week — praising the work of The Ohio State University for its testing of students and staff to keep everyone safe.

The governor said health officials are reporting a sharp rise in cases among the 18- to 22-year-old age group as colleges are back in session. He said the concern isn’t about those students getting very sick, but their ability to spread the disease.

Starting today, K-12 schools will have to follow a weekly reporting system for COVID-19 cases.

The Ohio Department of Health reported that the 131,992 cases statewide is an increase of 656 since Labor Day. Ohio has added 22 virus-related deaths since Monday, with one reported in Columbiana County and no new deaths in Mahoning or Trumbull.

The state health department reported 13,967 people have been hospitalized since the beginning of the pandemic. Statewide deaths were at 4,298.

Mahoning County has 2,906 confirmed cases of COVID-19, an increase of five from Monday, with 459 hospitalizations and 272 deaths.

Trumbull County has 1,780 cases, with 331 hospitalizations and 126 deaths.

Columbiana County has 1,876 cases, with 214 hospitalizations and 69 deaths.

LABOR DAY CONCERN

Last week, DeWine expressed concern about the long Labor Day weekend and the possibility of an increase in cases in coming weeks as people would gather in large groups to celebrate summer’s last hurrah.

Trumbull County Health Commissioner Frank Migliozzi said Tuesday the health department did receive one call of a large party with 12 vehicles parked outside a home. He would not indicate what city the call was from.

A call to the Mahoning County Health Department on Tuesday to see if it had any such calls was not returned.

DeWine said rural counties still are seeing the highest rate of spread, with Putnam, Butler and Meigs counties leading the state with the highest occurrence rates of COVID-19 cases.

Franklin County made its way back into the top 10 of cases per 100,000 residents. Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties are not in the top 10 county lists.

PRAISE FOR OSU

DeWine was joined by Ohio State University President Kristina M. Johnson. Testing at OSU is focused on students living in dorms, as well as commuters, faculty and staff. Around 40,000 students have been tested, Johnson said.

She said 1,500 students have tested positive, but the rate of positives in students has been decreasing. She said 25 employees tested positive.

“Ohio State University has … done extensive and significant amount of testing,” DeWine said.

Johnson said classroom sizes are down from 100 to 50 students and the 450 classrooms receive extensive cleaning twice per day.

“The classrooms are the safest place to be on campus,” she said.

Johnson said she attributes the decrease in positive tests to effective contact tracing and quarantine protocols. She also said messaging about social distancing and wearing masks has had an effect.

Johnson said more than 12,000 students are attending class in-person.

Contact tracing, she said, is key to keeping the numbers under control, notifying those who have potential exposure, isolating and watching them. Also, “Wearing masks, social distancing and washing hands has really worked.”

FOOTBALL SEASON

DeWine said that schools and sports are working closely with the local boards of health, but any outbreaks will be monitored and schools must continue to follow safety protocols.

The governor urged people to get flu shots this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

DeWine said Big Ten football and, in particular, Ohio State football is still in play for October.

“I think there is a decent chance of there being a season,” he said.

High school football is entering its third week, and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said the majority of schools were in compliance for Week 1 with the new protocols.

Husted said observers “coached up” the local districts on what they needed to do to make improvements.

RUMORS

DeWine also addressed rumors circulated over the weekend about people being forced into “FEMA camps.”

He said that is “absolutely ridiculous.”

The governor said the rumor prompted many calls over the weekend.

He addressed a rumor about noncongregated sheltering, which allows for sheltering of those who can’t isolate at home. This allows for funding to offer space during a quarantine period, or for emergency personnel to have a safe place to stay to keep themselves and families safe.

“Having quarantine housing options gives people the choice of a safe, comfortable place to recover from the virus while others can stay in the original housing,” DeWine said.

“The bottom line, neither FEMA nor ODH are going to set up ‘FEMA camps’ for anyone to quarantine against their will. What we are doing is making available a safe place for people to stay when they have loved ones they are trying to protect and they have no other place to go,” DeWine said.

DeWine said the order dates back to March 13, when President Donald Trump declared the coronavirus a national emergency. On March 20, Ohio and the Federal Emergency Management Agency entered into an agreement allowing the state to apply for emergency protection measures including non-congregate sheltering.

Trump then issued a major disaster declaration for Ohio on March 31. ODH then issued an order establishing non-congregate sheltering for people who were unable to self-quarantine in their homes. The same ODH order was renewed on April 29 and Aug. 31.

bcoupland@tribtoday.com