COLUMBUS, Ohio - Wearing Mahoning Valley Scrappers gear, among other minor league baseball teams whose season was originally set to begin today, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine began the day's briefing with a video, as he's done in recent days. 

Today's video was a tribute to baseball, which the governor said is a reminder that baseball will come back after the fight against the coronavirus is won. 

DeWine has taken to beginning his briefings with these types of videos as a way to inject some form of hope before delivering news that has on many occasions been stark and difficult for Ohioans to hear, such as businesses being ordered closed or gatherings being canceled. 

The governor then shifted focus to the dire need for personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, announcing a partnership that will allow for a group of 19 manufacturers to partner with hospitals to produce face shields for those workers. 

 DeWine said Ohio will find ways to make anything they need that they otherwise cannot obtain. 

"It's our obligation to protect the protectors," DeWine said. 

Continuing with the baseball theme, the governor praised Ohioans efforts to remain at home and away from others to slow the spread of the disease. 

"We've hit a home run," DeWine said, saying this is not time to celebrate, because the game is not won. Rather, he drove home the point that models that have been revised to show a much lesser impact in the state from the coronavirus are all based on the belief that Ohioans will continue these efforts. 

DeWine said modelers previous estimates of tens of thousands of new infections every day were based on the belief that Ohioans would not adhere to guidelines as well as they have. 

"We did a lot better than they thought," the governor said, promising more information next week on efforts to plan for some return to normalcy in the state. 

Current modeling shows the peak of new cases in Ohio being anywhere from this week to within the next two weeks, but with far fewer cases and deaths than originally forecasted. 

The governor pointed to continued increases in hospitalizations as an indicator we have not yet reached that peak. 

When asked about whether the current sense of optimism could mean schools could reopen this year, DeWine said it remains too early to tell. 

"We set the date of May 1 with the idea that we couldn't see, based on the data at the time, any way that we could open before May 1. As we get closer to May 1, we will continue to look at that data," DeWine said, but said any reopening of the schools will be done gradually, not all at once. 

 Dr. Amy Acton said new cases have been rising by about 364 per day, on average. Acton said that is one of several trend lines they plan to follow in the coming days as a means of illustrating what she hopes will become a steady decline of cases. 

She also hinted at a new rapid response mechanism that will be unveiled in the future that will be able to identify rises in cases in spots around the state and act aggressively to "smush them out." 

Addressing the voices of protesters outside the statehouse, Acton echoed the governor's message that efforts to restore will be as aggressive as the efforts to shut the state down. 

Likening the process to sherpas helping to get a mountain climber to the summit, Acton promised persistence from the state all the way through the crisis. 

"We will not leave your side and we will get you carefully through this arduous journey ahead,"  Acton said. 

Acton spoke via remote access to Dr. Tony Armstrong, an OB/GYN in the Toledo area about the fact that the coronavirus has had a disproportionate impact on the minority community. 

Armstrong said there are a number of factors that lead to that, from less access to healthcare to lack of available healthy food options that lead to more preexisting conditions. 

Acton said dealing with inequities in public health must be addressed now and moving forward.