Governor Mike DeWine started Thursday's coronavirus briefing with a public service announcement, saying "Ohioans can get through anything," as he remains hopeful a vaccine will be available starting in December. 

After a technical glitch that stopped the Ohio Department of Health from reporting the newest data for Ohio, there are at least 7,787 new COVID cases reported in the last 24 hours. 

However, DeWine said there are still thousands of reports pending review. 

At least 343 new hospitalizations have been reported, as well as at least 63 new deaths.

As of Thursday, 12,000 COVID tests still need to be double-checked.

DeWine said that he expects these tests to be positive, and he will have an update on Friday. 

There are 3,829 patients admitted to hospitals across the state.

He said 942 are in ICU.

Both of these numbers are the highest ever in the state since the beginning of the pandemic. 

As for how the Valley is doing, Columbiana County has moved to Level 3 Red status. 

This means the county is at high exposure, and the virus is spreading faster. 

There are no yellow counties across the state, and Franklin County is the first county to move to Level 4 Purple. 

The counties that have a large * is trending to purple status. 

Those counties are Montgomery, Lorain, and Lake.

These counties have been put on the watch list.

 

DeWine also spoke on Senate Bill 311 and urged the House not to pass the bill. 

"This bill would make Ohio slow to respond to a crisis, take tools away, it would put the lives of Ohioans in jeopardy, and this bill would be disastrous," said DeWine.

Ohio Senate Bill 311: The department of health shall have
supervision of all matters relating to the preservation of the
life and health of the people and have authority in matters of quarantine and isolation, which it may declare, modify, and enforce provided, however,
that the department shall not issue a general, mandatory statewide or regional quarantine or isolation order that applies
to and is enforced against individuals who have not been either
directly exposed to or medically diagnosed with the disease that
is the subject of the order. 

 

DeWine also spoke on the state's 21-day curfew, which will take effect Thursday night starting at 10 p.m and lasting through 5 a.m. 

He said, " We're not looking for police to be out there pulling people over if they see them driving at night. We should assume they have a legitimate reason for being out. But if police see people congregated somewhere while the curfew is in effect, they can ask them to go home."