Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s bi-weekly (daily a few months ago) briefings have become required watching for many Ohioans. Whether it’s to learn details about COVID-19 spread in Ohio or to hear about potential new restrictions or regulations relating to the virus, or for other reasons, every network carries it.
DeWine has made announcements both popular and unpopular over the months. One of his much-anticipated announcements–by people from all sorts of political and social backgrounds–is about sports. Can youth sports go on? What happens with fans at Browns, Reds, Indians, and other games? And, of course, what will happen with Ohio State football?
Ohio State announced a few months ago that it was hoping to have up to 20,000 fans at football games this fall. Whether that will be feasible, or not, has not been addressed since.
In his briefing Friday (delayed from the usual Thursday due to his presumed false positive test for COVID-19), DeWine didn’t make any announcement about sports. However, he did say that he and Lt. Governor Jon Husted will make announcements about all sports––youth, high school, professional, and college––next week.
What might DeWine say? It’s hard to guess. He has been among the most cautious Governors in the country as it relates to COVID-19 from the very beginning, though he has often preferred to phase-in lockdowns and restrictions rather than bringing them in all at once. Will that apply to football and fans? It’s hard to know.
Ohio’s current COVID-19 outbreak started in mid-June, and cases gradually but continually rose until mid-July before reaching a plateau. With cases at a relatively high plateau (certainly compared to early June levels), it was hard to plan for sports and having fans in the stands.
However, cases in Ohio have recently started to decline precipitously. From last Friday until today (August 7th), the seven-day average of cases dropped from 1,344 to 1,074 per day. That 20% decrease means that infected people are, on average, infecting less than one other person. If that continues, this drop will grow at an exponential rate.
Of course, as Governor DeWine frequently states, how the state responds to the virus is up to people. If they act safely, DeWine notes, then Ohio can “crush” the virus. That was the premise of the #IWantASeason campaign a month ago, and that continues to be the Governor’s message.
I don’t know what Governor DeWine plans to announce next week. But it’s pretty clear that if numbers continue to decline at the current pace, there will be little reason to not allow at least some fans in the stands this fall.