DeWine Urges Masks After COVID Study Shows Most Ohioans Still Susceptible

Get comfortable with masks.

Gov. Mike DeWine says they’re here to stay, at least until a vaccine to the novel coronavirus is available to the general public.

DeWine came to that conclusion after a study found that only 1.5% of Ohio adults had COVID-19 antibodies — proteins that patients who have previously contracted the virus will develop — in July, cleveland.com reported Friday (October 2).

DeWine concluded that Ohio hasn’t come close to developing herd immunity, so Ohioans should plan to continue wearing masks, social distancing and taking other preventative measures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“As you heard from the discussion that (Lt. Gov.) Jon Husted had and the study he presented today, we’re not going to get that without the vaccine,” DeWine said in the cleveland.com story. “We’re not going to work our way into this for years. So what we have to do is hang in there, keep this virus low. We’ll keep our foot on its neck and wait. And we wait for the vaccine to hit and when it gets here and the first people start getting the shots, we’ve got to encourage everybody to get one that can."

Ohio State University and the Ohio Department of Health conducted the study to determine how prevalent COVID-19 is in the state. The study included 727 participants after researchers contacted 1,200 households that geographically represent Ohio, OSU Infectious Disease Epidemiologist Abby Norris-Turner explained in the cleveland.com story.

She explained that because the COVID-19 prevalence is "relatively low," many more Ohioans "are still susceptible" to contracting the virus.

Officials have cautioned that when a vaccine is available, it will be given to vulnerable populations before it becomes available to the general public.

The Ohio Department of Health has tracked more than 156,800 COVID-19 cases in the state as of Friday. The department reported more than 15,600 hospitalizations and more than 4,900 deaths.

“It’s going to take a while to get this out," DeWine said. “...(When) we’ve got a significant segment of the population, and I don’t know what that segment is, but a significant segment that have that immunity — if this does in fact work the way we hope it will — that’s when we see the end of this.”

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