Tuesday morning on the Bill Cunningham Show broadcast weekdays from 12 pm to 3pm on Cincinnati’s News Radio 700WLW, host Cunningham welcomed The Ohio Star Managing Editor, Jack Windsor, to the show.
During the show, Windsor detailed his recent article in The Ohio Star citing a new law introduced in the state of Ohio which would allow the health departments to determine whether or not one’s private home was sufficient for self-isolation or quarantining if diagnosed positive with COVID-19.
He added that as the law as it is written would give the state power to take children out of the home and placed in a FEMA camp. Windsor has asked for clarification from both Governor DeWine and the Ohio Health Department to no avail.
Listen to the podcast here.
Cunningham: Of course Jack Windsor is an investigative reporter and he’s at most of the gubernatorial news conferences. He sent me interesting information the other day that Ohio FEMA camps still more questions than answers. There is a story in the Inquirer this morning written by Tyler Buchanon. GOP Lawmaker Wants to See if DeWine Can Be Criminally Charged Over Coronavirus Response.
There is a statute that deals with that that says ‘no public servant under color of his office shall knowingly deprive or conspire or attempt to deprive any person of a constitutional or statutory right.’ That’s an M1 that carries 80 days in jail. Lots of things are going on. Once again, Jack Windsor welcome to the Bill Cunningham show. And Jack, how are you?
Windsor: I’m super fantastic. Thank you for choosing me today. It’s great to be with you on and your amazing listeners.
Cunningham: Now before we get to the FEMA camps I monitor everything simultaneously and it appears that Ohio is doing exceedingly well with coronavirus infection rate and hospitalizations and all the rest. We are doing very well compared to many other states. Yet many public schools continue to be all virtual with no sports. And so over the weekend, Lawrenceburg beat Muller. Deer Park ran to victory over Three Rivers Taylor.
And we had great soccer matches happening. But CPS will not allow any of the thousands of students in public schools to actually participate in sports or even go to school. I want to hear from you before we talk about these other issues. What are the facts relative to teenagers being hospitalized or dying of COVID-19 that CPS is so concerned about?
Windsor: It’s not happening in Ohio, Bill, under the age of 18 there have been zero deaths. I’ll go back to Director Redfield from the CDC in mid-July, saying that children are not at great risk from this virus. And he juxtaposed it to the flu virus, where they really actually are.
He then went on to say there is no data to support the idea that kids continue the transmission cycle of this virus to teachers. So in one swoop, he came out and said look, kids are not going to get gravely ill or die from this virus, and they are not passing it on to teachers. Dr. Atlas, who is now the lead medical advisor for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, echoed this sentiment and said our kids need to be in school – in class, not distanced, and not wearing masks because there is no science to support all that’s standing behind that.
So for me, I look at it particularly with city schools. Some of these kids, this is what keeps them engaged. This is is what keeps them moving forward. And it’s a critical asset in their lives, and it’s a shame that they are being robbed.
Cunningham: And Jack, whether its Columbus, Mansfield, Toledo, Cleveland, Dayton, or Cincinnati. So many of these urban public schools these kids are living behind the eight ball, and they live in a ditch anyway. And athletics is the ladder out of the ditch in which they find themselves.
And when CPS, controlled by five big-time liberals on the school board, whisper in Laura Mitchell’s ear, who is the Superintendent, let’s not do anything. And then every Friday night or Saturday. By the way, they are practicing every day whether it’s. They are playing football. They are playing soccer. Girls are playing soccer. They are actually playing soccer, but come Friday night they go back into their neighborhoods where there are massive shootings and lawlessness.
Then they watch Channels 9, 5, and 12 at 11:15, and 11:20. About all the high school football action. Indian Hill is playing. Madiera is playing. Lawrenceburg is playing. Three Rivers. And they are saying what the hell is going on? They can’t go to school and they can’t play sports.
And this is done with the best of intentions by left-wing progressive liberals who think they are saving the students, when they are hurting them grievously. And I have some of the suburban coaches saying we have been contacted by kids who want to come here and play football.
They want to come to suburban schools, and they can’t do that either. They are trapped in a system of failure. And those in charge of the failure perpetuate it. It’s sickening. We have 35,000 kids that can’t go to school and can’t play sports, because the progressive liberals are in charge.
Now secondly, you sent me a column which was very interesting. Headline: Ohio FEMA Camps, Still More Questions Than Answers. Can you explain what the FEMA camps are? It was first reported September 3 by the Ohio Department of Health, and they issued an order. Explain.
Windsor: So this order created the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) shelters, and legalized their use for people who are unable to safely self-quarantine in their place of residence. And to isolate those diagnosed with or showing symptoms of COVID-19. Now, this sheltering can be utilized throughout the state for all people according to my reading.
And I’ll get into what the attorney said that reviewed it. But people who test positive for COVID-19 that did not require hospitalization and those who have been exposed to COVID-19 and who do not require hospitalization, and asymptomatic individuals who need social distancing as a precautionary measure, can all be put into what they call non-congregate living sheltering so that they can safely isolate in quarantine. This order makes that possible.
The order also requires publicly-funded colleges and universities to turn over their vacant space to be utilized for this non-congregate sheltering. It also empowers local officials and finds not only public, but private spaces that may be vacant that can be utilized for this sheltering. This raised a lot of flags. I asked the governor about it last Thursday. The answer still wasn’t satisfactory. So I leaned into his administration and the Ohio Department of Health. And frankly, some of the answers I’m getting are unnerving.
Cunningham: So the plan is that large numbers of people aren’t receiving shelter in place where they can’t go to be some place separate or apart. Or if they involuntarily will not do it, there are state camps that the people can be put into?
Windsor: That’s correct. The big question was who determines if it’s safe to self-quarantine in a residence, and what are the determinants? I will tell you, I asked that question directly to the governor’s office and to the Ohio Department of Health. The press secretaries for each respective office came back to me, and by the way, they quoted the same language in their responses.
And they are long, but the gist the order gives the state of Ohio the ability to draw down federal funding to reimburse the local EMA and Health Department, where non-congregate sheltering is needed. I leaned back on both of them and said, that’s great, but you are not hearing my question. Let me give you an example. If my daughter goes to school, and by the way, on September 3 it was mandated that schools have to report COVID cases now to the Department of Health.
Let’s say my daughter goes to school, and her classmate tests positive for COVID. The health department and the school reaches out to me, and the health department says that the kid is positive and all the kids that were around that positive student, their information goes to the health department. I get a call from the health department.
The health department says your daughter was exposed to COVID, and she was in close proximity, she needs to isolate or quarantine. My question is, who is going to determine whether my home is safe? What does that look like, and what authority do you have to take a kid out of home and put them into a shelter? And they didn’t answer the question directly.
Cunningham: So this gives the civil authorities the power to take your daughter and put her somewhere against your wishes, and will, and the state of Ohio will not respond to what are the standards. Who decides? Is there an appellate process? Is there due process? Otherwise, this order says they can take your daughter and put her in a home somewhere, and you can’t stop it.
Windsor: That’s right. There is no due process.
Cunningham: Oh. Great. Wonderful.
Windsor: I’m now reading that the authority lies with the local health department. And I read an article in the Cleveland the county health commissioner is on record saying asymptomatic children, and adults with COVID-19, should be quarantined to prevent them from the spread of the illness.
It’s not a very far stretch to say, OK. There are going to be some local health commissioners that believe children should be quarantined. Again, what are the criteria? Because I know a lot of single parents who have one bathroom. And there is a rumor blowing around that if you have one bathroom, that your home is not safe or fit as a safe haven for isolating and quarantining.
Are you going to tell me that every single parent, or even if they are not single parents but families, who have one bathroom are not in a home that’s safe for either an adult or child to quarantine? The fact that they are not answering that and blowing it off, and saying it’s probably not going to happen, this is only going to happen in an extreme situation. I don’t care. If the law is there and it’s able to happen, that’s an issue.
Cunningham: If a child is in grade school, and she has three older brothers and she doesn’t have the COVID-19, but she was close to someone that tested positive, the state now has the power to come into that home and tell that girl and I guess her brothers also, that there is only one bathroom in the house, and as a consequence, the state will take control of your family now.
Windsor: That’s exactly what the order seems to give the power to the state to do.
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Photo “COVID Patient” by Navy Medicine CC1.0
