Governor Mike DeWine announces that Ohio's K-12 schools will remain closed for the remainder of the academic school year as he prepares to lift his stay-at-home order on May 1...By Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog, both also at the top in Black digital news in the Midwest

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog, both also at the top in Black digital news in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

Ohio Governor
Mike DeWine (R-OH)

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, COLUMBUS, Ohio –Ohio and Michigan became the first states to close K-12 schools in response to the coronavirus outbreak last month, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announcing Monday that schools in Ohio will now remain closed for the remainder of the academic school year.

The school closings order pertains to all public, private, voucher and charter K-12 schools in Ohio. 

The governor said at a press conference when he closed the schools last month that Ohio's school children will have an extended spring break for three weeks beginning with the close of school on Monday, March 16, and tentatively ending April 3. 

April 3 has since come and gone.

The governor said Monday that his decision to keep the schools closed follows advice from educators and public health officials and that “we have flattened the curve, but it remains dangerous.”

The indefinite school closings come as the governor prepares to reopen Ohio when his stay-at-home order issued last month expires on May 1, though he gave no specifics on how he will restart Ohio's economy, which he says will go into a recession unless Ohioans are allowed to go back to work.

Ohio has reported more than 12,919 confirmed coronavirus cases and 509 deaths.

Worldwide there are currently more than 2.4 million confirmed cases and 1.6 million deaths, with the U.S. accounting for some 789,000 cases, and 1,723 deaths.

DeWine's decision to lift his stay-at-home order when it expires early next month, a decision he said could change in spite of the deadly virus reaching its peak in Ohio and beginning to level off, follows protests at the statehouse demanding that the governor get businesses and people back to work, similar protests occurring across the nation, including in North Carolina and neighboring Kentucky and Michigan, Michigan of which follows New York and New Jersey as states with the most cases and deaths.

President Trump, a Republican like DeWine, and his political ally, announced Thursday that he supports reopening the nation on May 1, if not earlier in some states, and in phases, and that governors will retain the autonomy to decide how and when their respective states will reopen.

The president has since advocated for nationwide protests in support of his demand to reopen the country as his poll numbers relative to his reelection bid in November against presumptive Democratic nominee former president Joe Biden continue to fall.

And while federal guidelines have been issued by the president for reopening the economy in respective states utilizing a three- phase process, some governors say the guidelines are vague, and that questions still remain.

The president's foes and some experts say it is too soon and literally dangerous to reopen America right now, a decision complicated by a lack of coronavirus testing and testing resources, and inadequate contact tracing.

They say that reopening the economy is an effort by the president to shift his responsibilities to the states so he can blame governors for growing dissatisfaction on how his administration has handled the fallout from the virus.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.