Do you trust your governor with the virus?

[Ms. Toad]

59. You initially said his entire response was "he was going to install hand sanitizers on highway rest

stops." That seemed to me like criticizm made without having seen any of the steps taken since Monday. From your response now, it seems like you are at least aware he has done more than that - but you don't think it is enough.

We'll largely have to disagree on that - I've been banging my head against largely liberal brick walls to get people to wake up. Both on DU and in real life. On Monday, 2 hours before the cases were diagnosed in Ohio, I couldn't even get my largely liberal administration to take me seriously when I suggested we proactively encourage our student body to take steps to flatten the curve. My suggestions were ridiculed as excessive. I was so frustrated with the happy talk about how little risk there was that I cut everyone off of my response, but my dean, so I didn't have to deal with more blowback - and I only responded to him to document my concerns. DeWine's response was certainly more appropriate than those of the largely liberal administration I've been working with.

As to the specifics -

"As to the 4 cases, they quarantined them & families immediately (before knowing they were positive), and began contact tracing in an attempt to contain the virus."

That's untrue.

I don't see anything you've said that contradicts what I said. The quarantining of professionals who came in contact with the 3 cases, once they tested positive, is part of that contact tracing to contain the virus.

The Ohio COVID-19 website came under scrutiny as it was only updating twice a week, I don't know if that's changed.

https://odh.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/odh/know-our-programs/Novel-Coronavirus/2019-nCoV

It's been being updated at least twice a day since Monday. I don't know about before that.

A COVID-19 call center was established (which is/was a good idea) but the panicked public can't seem to get much information, other than a busy signal. Hopefully, they hire more educated people to help with this call center. This is beneficial.

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/continuing-coverage/coronavirus/ohio-set-up-a-hotline-for-questions-about-coronavirus-it-can-take-time-to-get-answers

Well, when you call for closing all of the schools, declare a state of emergency, implement changes to nursing home visits, etc., all in less than 48 hours there are probably going to be more calls than any system can handle for a while. I don't see any information about uneducated people answering the hotline ("the call center is staffed by 18 public health officials, including at least one nurse and one epidemiologist who can answer medical questions." ) or about inappropriate information being given that might suggest the staff was uneducated. Do you blame Costco for not having enough toilet paper to meet the demands of a panicked public?

Since I wasn't present for his interactions with his staff at MetroHealth, I can't specifically address that. I can say that on Monday, 2 hours before the cases were diagnosed in Ohio, I could not even get my mostly liberal adminstration to even consider posting hand-washing signs. ("We shouldn't have to tell adults to wash their hands," "The flu is a lot more serious," and "we don't want to panic the students." )

As for him calling for restrictions on nursing home visits and banning large gatherings today was due to the WHO finally declaring a pandemic. When we all read of what was going on in Washington nursing homes (for how long now) is when he should've acted appropriately. He did not.

DU is a (generally) supportive place - and there are still some here who believe all of this is an overreaction. I don't disagree that more proactive education about nursing homes, specifically, and flattening the curve (generally).

But I was expecting complete incompetence from him, along with the Republican response, "It's no worse than the flu," and at least as much resistance to taking this seriously as I encountered in my largely liberal circle of friends. I saw a competent and appropriate response, deference to the director of public health, without a hint of minimization of how serious this is. In fact - the response I saw was far more proactive than any I've encountered anywhere outside of DU, and I've only seen it on DU for a bit more than a week. If anything, his quick response once there were confirmed cases in Ohio was a wakep-up call that changed the attitude of many local friends I have been unabe to reach.