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On Monday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted provided the following updates on Ohio’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
PHASE 1D AND PHASE 2B VACCINATION ELIGIBILITY
In response to significant increase in the amount of vaccine coming into Ohio, Governor DeWine today outlined the individuals who are included in Phase 1D and Phase 2B of Ohio’s vaccination plan, which will go into effect on Thursday, March 11.
Phase 1D includes approximately 197,000 eligible Ohioans with certain medical conditions not addressed in previous phases, including type 2 diabetes and end-stage renal disease.
Phase 2B will open vaccinations based on age for Ohioans ages 50 and older. This group includes approximately 1.2 million eligible Ohioans.
VACCINATION SCHEDULING TOOL
Governor DeWine announced today that Ohio’s centralized scheduling website is now available at gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov. The website will serve as a singular location for Ohioans to confirm that they are eligible to be vaccinated, identify nearby providers, and schedule their vaccine appointments.
“As we continue to receive more vaccines, having a centralized scheduling website will streamline the process, reduce data lags, and provide real-time information on vaccination progress across the state,” said Governor DeWine.
The Ohio Department of Health will continue to work directly with vaccine providers to integrate their current systems into the statewide system. Providers will be expected to use this system or another electronic scheduling system that interfaces with this portal.
The centralized scheduling website will also be used for scheduling appointments at the mass vaccination clinics, including the FEMA site in Cleveland, that were announced last week.
Outside partners, including the Area Agencies on Aging, will be available to help Ohioans who do not have access to the internet with appointment scheduling.
UNEMPLOYMENT UPDATE
Governor DeWine announced the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) has signed a contract with IBM to improve the unemployment call center. ODJFS has additionally signed a contract with LexisNexis to assist the department with on-going efforts to keep fraud out of the system.
Jeff Ficke, leader of the ODJFS Public-Private Partnership Team (P-3 Team), joined Governor DeWine to provide an update on improvements being made to Ohio’s unemployment system. Members of the ODJFS Public-Private Partnership Team include highly-skilled experts, most of whom are on loan from some of Ohio’s top banking and insurance companies.
CURRENT CASE DATA
In total, there are 979,725 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 reported in Ohio and 17,656 confirmed and probable COVID-19 deaths. A total of 50,965 people have been hospitalized throughout the pandemic, including 7,223 admissions to intensive care units. In-depth data can be accessed by visiting coronavirus.ohio.gov.
Video of today’s full update, including versions with foreign language translation, can be viewed on the Ohio Channel’s YouTube page.
For more information on Ohio’s response to COVID-19, visit coronavirus.ohio.gov or call 1-833-4-ASK-ODH.
