Dr. Amy Acton, former Ohio Department of Health Director, told reporters at the Democratic National Convention this week that she is considering launching a campaign for Ohio governor in 2026.
Read the full story
Former Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton released a statement Tuesday revealing that she will not seek the 2022 Ohio Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.
“It has been a tremendous honor to be asked to consider a run for the U.S. Senate. Like many of you, I have a profound reverence for the office, and for those who have answered the calling to public service,” wrote Acton
Read the full story
The Ohio Star reported last week on the strong possibility of a Josh Mandel run for the U.S. Senate Seat vacated by Republican Rob Portman.
Wednesday morning Mandel confirmed – he’s in.
Read the full story
On July 2, Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine introduced the Ohio Public Health Advisory System (OPHAS). The color-coded map assigns a color to each of Ohio’s 88 counties that is supposed to be indicative of each county’s COVID spread.
Read the full story
This is the second story in an eight-part series on the Ohio Public Health Advisory System
Early in the battle with COVID Ohioans were implored to heed recommended measures from Republican Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton to “flatten the curve and ramp hospital capacity.”
Experts displayed epidemiological curves showing as many as 62,000 new cases a day, while county and local health departments received epidemiological reports highlighting the projected death toll on each age group within the locale or county.
Read the full story
John Zeiger is a partner at Zeiger, Tigges & Little LLP, the law firm the Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office hired to defend the State of Ohio in litigation popping up around the state as a consequence of Ohio’s COVID orders, mandates and policies – lawsuits naming as defendants Governor Michael DeWine, Ohio Department of Health Interim Director Lance Himes, former Director of Health Amy Acton, and certain health districts.
John Zeiger is also Leslie Wexner’s family lawyer. Leslie Wexner is a billionaire business titan, founder and chairman emeritus of L Brands, the parent company of, among other notable brands, Victoria’s Secret.
Read the full story
Dr. Amy Acton stepped down from her role as Governor Mike DeWine’s Chief Health Advisor, the Ohio Department of Health announced Wednesday.
DeWine called Acton a “friend and advisor” on Twitter, saying that “she has assured [him] that she is just a phone call away and will be available to continuing advising [his administration] as [they] move through this pandemic.”
Read the full story
Ohio business owners who are fed up with Gov. Mike DeWine’s ever-lasting shutdown regulations are joining their lawsuits together into a class action against the state.
Three lawyers are working together to help combine existing lawsuits and are looking for other owners whose livelihoods are being threatened by what they say are unconstitutional orders. The suit against the DeWine administration and other government agencies was filed in the Ohio Court of Common Pleas in Lake County.
Read the full story
Is Jane Timken the leader the Ohio State Republican Party needs to help President Donald Trump win re-election when her party seems to be engaged in a civil war? The stakes are high in the Buckeye State. Trump and Biden are locked in a dead heat, according to a poll available here by RealClearPolitics. GOP insiders say the number of Republican-registered voters in the state has fallen from 2.2 million in June 2016 to 1.9 million last month. Meanwhile, Timken and Gov. Mike DeWine went on a state tour early this year to say how great things are, The Ohio Star reported. They touted the pre-pandemic economy, government spending and children’s programs while ignoring the governor’s red flag laws, his policy to allow dangerous refugees into the state and primary endorsements that the two have drawn heat on. Since then, DeWine and Timken have not addressed conservatives’ concerns over Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof’s late-night move to kill a vote on a bill to curb Dr. Amy Acton’s unrestrained powers in strangling the economy. Now, conservative-leaning county parties are showing their displeasure with state leadership by sending strongly worded letters to DeWine. It may be that letters are the…
Read the full story
What’s a newspaper to do when given an exclusive interview with the governor during a pandemic that has ravaged the state’s economy and rioting that has ravaged the capital city? Would you push against answers that are not true?
If you’re The Columbus Dispatch, you allow Gov. Mike DeWine to talk about the “quick” reopening of the state, his walks with his dog Dolly and how he social distances with his grandkids.
Read the full story
A Lorain County commission candidate who lost his race is suing to have the results from Dr. Amy Acton’s delayed primary election set aside, citing about 90 violations of state election law and the Ohio Constitution.
The candidate, Gerald W. Phillips, filed the election contest complaint in the Court of Common Pleas for Lorain County.
Read the full story
A lawsuit has been filed against Ohio Health Director Dr. Amy Acton and Gov. Mike DeWine in Lake County Common Pleas Court over “constitutionally vague” restrictions on restaurants and bars, The News-Herald reported.
The case has been assigned to Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge John P. O’Donnell. The plaintiffs are eight bars and restaurants, all but one being located in Northeast Ohio.
Read the full story
The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, working on behalf of 35 independent gyms, struck a significant win for their right to exist by persuading a court to rule against Gov. Mike DeWine and Dr. Amy Acton’s “oppressive” shutdown of their businesses.
The Ohio Court of Common Pleas in Lake County on Wednesday handed down a decision that castigated DeWine and the health department director and granted a preliminary injunction to prevent the gym owners from being prosecuted for opening while awaiting a court trial. The ruling is available in its entirety here.
Read the full story
Between Health Director Dr. Amy Acton sneaking in an extension of her dining orders until July 1 and Governor Mike DeWine assembling a restaurant police force, one may wonder if Ohio is really reopening.
Late last Thursday, following the final press conference of the week, Acton issued the “Director’s Dine Safe Ohio Order,” which is available here. The order allowed outside restaurant dining as of last Friday.
Read the full story
Dr. Amy Acton claims the Ohio Health Department found five cases in five counties where COVID-19 symptoms were experienced in January.
Acton mentioned serological antibody testing and hinted that contact tracers were involved in investigating the patients’ cases during a press conference Monday, WLWT reported.
Read the full story
Conservatives are using words like “betrayal” to describe Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof’s late-night move to kill a vote on a bill to curb Dr. Amy Acton’s unrestrained powers in shutting the state down, and suggests he had an ulterior motive.
The Senate will not act this week on Senate Bill One pulling back the Health Department director’s powers, meaning it will likely fail, Fox 19 Now reported. The Senate is only having committee meetings this week and will hold a session next week.
Read the full story
Thinking local is racist, according to The Columbus Dispatch, which built a convoluted case to accuse Ohio Rep. Nino Vitale (R-OH-85) of being anti-semitic for using the dirty word “globalist.”
On May 1, the Urban-area Republican posted on Facebook:
While you were sleeping, UNELECTED Acton declared Ohio closed until May 29th.
Read the full story
State Rep. Diane Grendell (R- Geauga County) wants Ohio Health Department Director Dr. Amy Acton to be more forthcoming about COVID-19 statistics.
Grendell drafted the “Truth in COVID-19 Statistics” bill, the Record-Courier reported. She said the bill will be introduced in the House later this week, and she expects it to gain bipartisan support.
Read the full story
Ohio State House Republicans on Wednesday approved a move to limit the Health Department’s emergency declaration powers.
Read the full story
State Rep. Nino Vitale (R-Urbana) says reports of his Facebook campaign page’s demise are greatly exaggerated — it was down temporarily, but the social media giant was very cooperative in restoring it.
Read the full story
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is denouncing an anti-Semitic sign at a recent protest as well as remarks by a state senator and his wife about Health Director Dr. Amy Acton, who is Jewish.
Read the full story
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine during his daily news briefing Wednesday, announced an easing up on the prohibition of elective surgeries during the coronavirus pandemic.
DeWine said that doctors can now review postponed procedures and surgeries with patients in terms of their current health situation and quality of life, after which doctors and patients can make a joint decision about whether to proceed. New or other chronic conditions that may have a significant impact on a patient’s quality of life should also be evaluated.
Read the full story
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine plans to begin reopening Ohio on May 1 provided the state has demonstrated the proper protocol during the pandemic. However, he added the working environments may never be the same.
Read the full story
State Rep. Nino Vitale (R-Urbana) issued a call to action in the form of an open letter Friday to ease restrictions and reopen hospitals and medical centers to elective surgeries in Ohio.
“My request is we allow the doctors and nurses in these fields to immediately open back up and treat Ohioans that need medical care, which is getting more and more critical by the day because of these restrictions,” Vitale wrote.
Read the full story
Approximately 150 people gathered outside the State Capitol in Columbus Monday to tell Gov. Mike DeWIne and Health Department Director Amy Action that it’s past time to reopen the state.
Tom Zawistowski, president of Ohio Tea Party group We the People Convention, estimated the attendance, in an interview with The Ohio Star. This was the second such protest since last Thursday.
Many of the protestors called out, “You’re getting a paycheck, we’re not,” Zawistowski said.
Read the full story
Ohio is 44th out of 50 states in terms of the number of tests performed per capita for the Chinese coronavirus, data show.
Worldometers tracks COVID-19 test results and related data. The information, which was updated Sunday afternoon, is available here.
Looking at tests performed by 1 million, or per capita, is a method to adjust for population differences.
Based on that strategy, Ohio is 44th out of 50 states and Washington, D.C., with 5,432 tests done for every person out of 1 million people.
The national figure is 8,371 tests per million.
Read the full story
A health institute that has been making national and state COVID-19 forecasts revised its model for Ohio, suggesting that the peak will be hit Wednesday, leaving far fewer cases and deaths than the gruesome numbers painted by Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration.
The Sandusky Register reported on the model update Monday.
The forecaster is the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHMC), and it is a model that has been cited by many state and federal officials, including President Donald Trump.
Read the full story
Governor Mike DeWine encouraged Ohio residents during Saturday’s coronavirus press briefing to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation (CDC) to wear a non-medical mask while in public, where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain. “In many cultures around the world, wearing a mask is just part of the culture – it is a socially accepted act of kindness,” said Governor DeWine in a statement after the briefing. “Wearing a mask should not scare people. It is a good thing. It is a considerate thing. It is a courageous thing.” DeWine was asked if he is working on securing personal protective equipment (PPE) from international sources or relying on Ohio manufacturers only. The Governor answered that he will acquire the PPE wherever he is able to find it and that a shipment is scheduled to arrive Tuesday. The CDC has recommended people wear a mask covering their nose and mouth when they have to go out in public. This is meant to protect other individuals from infection by the wearer – especially those who are asymptomatic. DeWine mentioned during the briefing “I’ll be wearing cloth masks sewn by wife, Fran, when out in public.” President…
Read the full story
The rate of increases for new Chinese coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Ohio declined on Sunday, although the number of deaths climbed by 17.
The data is provided by The COVID Tracking Project, and is available here. The project has taken multiple screenshots every day of the Ohio Department of Health’s COVID-19 portal, which is here, to provide and document the numbers.
Read the full story
The Ohio Roundtable filed a Freedom of Information request with Dr. Amy Acton of the Ohio Department of Health to allow all Ohioans to “see the math” behind the construction of Dr. Acton’s latest model which is controlling public policy decisions in Ohio.
Read the full story
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said during Thursday’s COVID-19 press briefing that an investigation is ongoing relative to abortion clinics in violation of the Department of Health order that cancelled all elective surgeries.
Read the full story
Ohio was hit harder with unemployment filings than other states during the immediate aftermath of the coronavirus.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that 3.28 million claims were filed in the week that ended March 21. That marked an increase of more than 3 million claims over the week prior, when 282,000 claims were filed, The Ohio Star reported.
Ohio’s claims totaled 187,784, the Cincinnati Enquirer said, up from 7,046 the previous week.
Read the full story
Governor Mike DeWine – through Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton – announced Sunday that a two-week, statewide ‘Stay at Home’ order will be in effect beginning 11:59 p.m. Monday, March 23 and will last through April 6 at 11:59pm:
On Sunday, March 22th, under the direction of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton, M.D., MPH issued a director’s order to require all Ohioans to stay in their homes to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 beginning at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Monday, March 23, 2020 until 11:59 p.m. on April 6, 2020. This order prohibits holding gatherings of any size and closes all nonessential businesses. It does NOT prohibit essential activities like going to the grocery store, receiving medical care, or taking your pet for a walk. Residents can return home from out of state and can leave the state.
Read the full story