In this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss the case for reopening the state as Gov. DeWine targets May 1 for a gradual comeback.
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In this week's episode:
Getting Back To Business
With nearly 1 million Ohioans claiming unemployment, Gov. Mike DeWine is hoping the reopening of Ohio's economy can begin. Details of his plan are still scarse, but the May 1 target date is in place.
We know some medical procedureswill begin again at hospitals, but all other non-essential businesses are waiting to hear when they can expect to reopen.
It seems certain Ohio will not meet a key federal guideline for reopening, that states must have a two-week trend of declining case numbers. Becasue testing is still limited, we don’t really know if the number of actual cases is growing or declining.
And Department of Health director Amy Acton says we won't have adequate testing before May 1.
A Taxing Situation
If people are not getting a paycheck, they can't pay state or city income taxes. If they are not shopping, they are not paying sales taxes. That means government budgets are taking a huge hit.
Not even Ohio's ample "Rainy Day Fund" will be able cover the decline in revenue. Both the state and cities are looking at up to 25% budget cuts.
Godwin's Law
Republican State Sen. Andrew Brenner of Delaware faced criticism this week for comments he and his wife made on Facebook, which compared statements made by Dr. Amy Acton to Nazi Germany.
Mugwump Of The Week
This one goes out to all those good dogs out there.
The Franklin County Animal Shelter reports a 90% increase in inquiries about pet adoptions during the pandemic. We don’t have statewide numbers, but we can rest assured that people being ordered to stay away from other humans are adopting more dogs.
Send questions and comments to snollygoster@wosu.org.
