“I am asking you, wherever you live, to wear a mask when in public,” Gov. Mike DeWine said during his 5:30 p.m. address Wednesday as a necessary step to stop the spread of COVID-19. He stopped short of making his mask request a mandate.
The governor said unless steps are taken now a more catastrophic outcome could take place in Ohio, similar to what’s taking place in other parts of the country.
Locally, Medina County Health Commissioner Krista Wasowski said she finds last week’s statistics concerning about how many people in Medina County contracted COVID-19. Between July 6-13, Wasowski said 74 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed, the highest number of positive cases in a 7-day period in Medina County since the pandemic began. The health department says most new cases are coming from graduation parties, weddings, out of state travel and other types of group gatherings.
Meanwhile, Wadsworth is joining forces with the Medina County Commissioners, the Medina County Health Department and the cities of Brunswick and Medina in a public information campaign called MASK UP MEDINA COUNTY – KEEP MEDINA COUNTY FROM GOING RED! Nearby Cuyahoga, Lorain and Summit counties are now among the 12 Ohio counties to be designated red (or Level 3 of the State’s 4 level reporting system) because of the rapidly rising number of COVID-19 cases.
The campaign will emphasize visitors and residents of Medina County should do everything possible to keep Medina County from going “red.” The campaign says more than 40% of Medina County residents work in these three counties. Plus, 68% of the workers in Medina County come from Cuyahoga, Lorain, and Summit counties. Add to that, the numbers of people who come to shop or visit Medina County from these counties on a daily basis. The campaign hopes those numbers are reason enough to have Medina County residents Mask Up.