Those who were expecting Gov. Mike DeWine to make a major pronouncement — such as mandatory face masks or rolling back some of the business reopenings — as Ohio faces record numbers of COVID-19 cases were likely disappointed at his pep talk Wednesday, urging people to be careful.

But with pressure from members of DeWine’s own Republican Party who don’t want any more restrictions — some believing the pandemic is a hoax or an exaggeration — and business owners who don’t want to shut down or scale back, the contents of his speech, little more than a plea for Ohioans to make “good decisions,” shouldn’t have been a surprise.

The main question I came away with from DeWine’s talk was: “Why?”

Why build expectations for a major announcement and then not deliver?

DeWine could have easily made the same plea during his now twice weekly news conferences on the virus. Actually he has done that several times.

The only difference is he gave the speech on the eighth straight day of record high numbers of COVID-19 cases while governors — both Republican and Democrat — in 25 other states have made face masks mandatory.

It also came on the heels of New York ordering those who visited Ohio to self-quarantine for 14 days because of the outbreak in this state.

DeWine has been hesitant to make pronouncements after his initial aggressiveness in trying to stop the virus spread.

He initially ordered masks be mandatory on April 27, to be effective May 1, but reversed his decision April 28.

DeWine said May 1 that masks for different counties “would be a disaster for the state.” But on June 26, he said the state was “looking at the state now in segments, we’re looking at it in regions, we are looking at it in counties.”

July 2, he unveiled the very confusing and incomplete color-coded Ohio Public Health Advisory System as COVID-19 warnings across the state. It took him five more days to declare those in Levels 3 (red) and 4 (purple) would be required to wear face coverings in public, with exceptions. And he was hesitant last week to put counties into Level 4, even though it appears no additional restrictions come with the purple designation.

I’ve spent the better part of this week attempting to get answers from the Ohio Department of Health about the system’s discrepancies, incomplete data and general confusion. Apparently they’ve given up trying to answer my questions as I’ve called a half dozen times with responses like “I don’t know,” and “let me check and get back to you.” They haven’t gotten back to me, and they likely still don’t know.

This all leads to major concerns about how the state is handling the pandemic.

Thankfully, deaths are down. Still, cases are at an all-time high, hospitalizations are significantly up and the rate of those testing positive continues to increase.

DeWine has a mess on his hands and realizes it.

He said Ohio has “reached the most critical point in the battle against COVID-19. If we don’t take immediate action to slow this virus down, the tragedies we’re seeing in Florida, Texas, Arizona and California may be Ohio’s reality in just a matter of weeks. This nightmare does not have to be our future.”

So his solution was, yet again, to ask people to wear masks and not let “our guard down” because when that happens “we’re playing Russian roulette with our lives. Good decisions will protect the economy and save lives. Reckless ones will hurt and kill.”

But it sounds like DeWine is waiting for Ohio’s numbers to get even more out of control before taking serious action — and it’s hard to tell if he’ll even do that.

Like other governors dealing with this pandemic, DeWine is in a difficult situation.

I’ve known him for more than 20 years, and he genuinely has the best interests of the state in mind. I’m sure this is keeping him up at night, and I know he’s devoting a lot of time and thought into doing what he thinks is best.

But sitting on the sidelines cheering on Ohioans to do the right thing and hoping they do before it’s too late doesn’t seem like the smartest decision.

Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com