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Coronavirus
As a new strain of coronavirus (COVID-19) swept through the world in 2020, preparedness plans, masking policies and more public policy changed just as quickly. WVXU has covered the pandemic's impact on the Tri-State from the very beginning, when on March 3, 2020, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine barred spectators from attending the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus over concerns about the virus, even though Ohio had yet to confirm a single case of COVID-19.

Ohio Is Ready To 'Restart,' Pair Says

open ohio protestor
Gene J. Puskar
/
AP
A protester stands on the step of the Ohio State House in Columbus, Ohio, Monday, April 20, 2020. Mike Wilson isn't protesting but is also frustrated with the time it's taking to reopen the state.

A citizen supported policymaking platform says numbers prove Ohio has reached a peak in the first wave of COVID-19 cases, and it's time to restart the state's economy.

Libertarian, past Republican candidate for the Ohio House of Representatives, and mathematician Mike Wilson has teamed with Dr. Robert Bulas to create RestartOhio.com to offer a set of recommendations to end the shutdown.

Wilson, who does data analysis for a living, says he has looked at the publicly available coronavirus numbers in Ohio and he thinks it shows we have already hit the peak. "We've clearly leveled things off. There's obviously an outbreak at a couple of the prisons right now but those are very different than those we've been measuring in the state."

Credit Mike Wilson's Facebook page
Wilson points to images like these in his argument to restart Ohio.

Wilson and Bulas want to restart Ohio safely and have recommended maintaining social distancing, isolating the most vulnerable and instituting contact tracing.

"I think everyone's aware of the economic side of this. There are a lot of people out there that are hurting. But there's an enormous social cost," Wilson says. "You've got people who can't see their family members. You've got people who are waiting for a potential hip replacement or some other form of surgery."

Wilson says he has reached out to Governor Mike DeWine but hasn't heard back. He says he's not looking to advance any kind of agenda; he just wants Ohio to open as quickly as possible.

He is glad that Ohio is "very transparent" in releasing data and "continued transparency," he says, is going to be important.

Ann Thompson has decades of journalism experience in the Greater Cincinnati market and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her reporting.