COLUMBUS, Ohio - As Governor Mike DeWine continues to look at May first to begin reopening Ohio's economy, he is focusing on his three-part plan of balancing public health, safeguards in businesses and protections for the most vulnerable Ohioans. 

The governor was not joined by Dr. Amy Acton, saying he was told by his wife Fran to give her a break from the briefings for a day. 

DeWine said he will have two announcements, one on Friday that he said will be "good news" and will have to do with the reopening of businesses, and one on Monday with what he hinted as an official announcement. 

He said as hospitalizations are going down, they are going to start getting people back to work for those least at risk.

DeWine said in the next few days, they are making sure they have the testing capacity to move in when they need to move into a hotspot such as nursing homes.  

As for budget concerns, he said they were working on the budget Thursday morning and will have an announcement on that in the next few days. 

When asked about the rainy day fund, DeWine said, "It is raining, but it is going to continue to rain for a while."

However, he said they are going to continue to get by for a while without that fund. 

Wednesday, DeWine called on state health officials to reassess postponed procedures and elective surgeries. 

He said it is important that hospitals now reach out to those patients, and that eventually doctor's offices and dentist's offices can reopen. 

Thursday, DeWine clarified his order, saying a full assessment must be done before they go forth with the procedure and think about how much the patient is at risk for the virus. 

He said he is anxious to have everything back open, but they must do it slowly. 

"This is a marathon and not a sprint, and as we move forward, we owe it to you to do so in a thoughtful, methodical way. So today, we want to share some of the underlying science behind social distancing, masks and other efforts that help make us as safe as possible," said DeWine. 

The governor was joined by OSU's Department of Public Health's Dr. Mark Weir, who explained how to interrupt the infection process properly. 

 

Dr. Weir said even if you are wearing a mask, you should still have a six-foot distance because people could still be at risk. 

"Therefore, even if you are wearing a mask, you still want to keep the distance between people. That's why we need multiple barriers, the social distancing is another barrier we can use in addition to masks," said Dr. Weir. 

He added that the six-foot rule comes from years of bio-aerosol work. 

The virus can stay viable in the air in a dry environment for up to three hours. On some surfaces, it can be up to 72 hours if no disinfectants are used, according to Dr. Weir.

"Your risk can never be zero," he said.

Meanwhile, Lt. Governor Jon Husted said there are about 50,000 jobs available during these"unique" times.  

DeWine also went to Twitter to announce there is a new resource available for those to get mental health support during the pandemic. 

It's called CareLine put in place by the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. 

You can reach them at 1-800-720-6916. 

Husted Wednesday also expanded on the economic impact of COVID-19.

Nationally, it's projected that unemployment could rise to 20 percent. He pointed out that during the great recession, the highest unemployment rate was 10.9 percent.

He then talked about the state's rainy day fund at $2.7 billion.

Based on the current projections, he says we might need twice that amount to balance the budget for the next 15 months. 

Husted also spoke to some city leaders who say they will have to make 15 to 25 percent cuts to things like police, fire and other vital services in the city. 

Meanwhile, coronavirus cases across the Mahoning Valley are still showing an uptick.

As of Thursday afternoon, cases of the virus increased by 533 to 14,142.

In Mahoning County, health officials said five more people have died.