Like most of the country, Ohio is under a stay-at-home order to curb the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. It’s highly contagious. Over 10,000 Americans have died from it. Over 400,000 have been infected with this pneumonia-like virus. New York City is the epicenter of the U.S.-based outbreak. Over 80 percent of the U.S. population is living under such orders or similar measures. The economy has ground to a halt.
Unemployment has ticked up, with millions filing for benefits. The vast majority of workers cannot work from home. With these stay-at-home orders and shuttering of non-essential businesses lasting anywhere from 4-6 weeks, maybe longer, these workers are without an income. It’s a brutal situation.
Ohio expanded its order until May 1 and now businesses designated as essential will be tasked with enforcing occupancy standards (via WLWT):
As part of an extended stay-at-home order in Ohio, area grocery stores are now required to limit the number of people allowed inside of their store at once.
The new order applies to all businesses who fall under the essential business category, Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday. However, grocery stores seem to be the focus of the new measure meant to slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
"The new order requires retail businesses to establish the number of people who should be in the business at one time," DeWine said. "We're not telling them the number because businesses are all different. But businesses must determine their number and post it."
The number of people allowed inside at once will depend on several factors, DeWine said. Those factors include total square footage and the amount of foot traffic they receive daily.
"We want people to be able to buy groceries, but we also need for them to be safe," the governor said.
DeWine added that all of the businesses must allow safe social distancing.
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Proper social distancing measures must be kept in the stores and queuing in line for registers.
Lines are expected outside of area stores. These lines too should require proper social distancing measures.
These new protocols went into effect on Monday. As FOX19, another local outlet, reported those coming from other areas must self-quarantine for two weeks. Right now, we're approaching 450,000 Wuhan virus cases. The death toll sits at 14,820 right now. It’s bound to go up. We were warned that this week will be bad, with Sunday possibly being the worst in terms of reported cases and deaths. But the social distancing and other mitigation factors are working. This too shall pass.