5 things to know about coronavirus: K-12 school case reporting, child care an issue as classes begin

Today is Monday, August 31 and here are five things to know about the coronavirus pandemic.

Ohio K-12 schools will be required to create a coronavirus reporting system

Ohio K-12 schools will be required to create a coronavirus reporting system to allow parents to report cases to the district, Gov. Mike DeWine said.

Schools should report any student and staff cases to their health departments, which then will report the cases weekly to the Ohio Department of Health. Data will be shared each Wednesday on the state’s coronavirus website, the governor said during his Thursday briefing.

Child care is making online school tough for some families

Local schools’ late decisions to start the year online gave some families as little as two weeks to find a caregiver, leaving some working parents scrambling as many child care centers are already full.

A few school districts are offering special programs where otherwise idled staff will watch over a small number of students whose families couldn’t find or couldn’t afford child care. Other parents face tough situations.

Ohio hits 122,000 cases of coronavirus, 922 new cases reported yesterday

There have been 122,262 cases of coronavirus and 4,128 deaths reported in Ohio as of Sunday, August 30, the Ohio Department of Health said. There were 922 new cases and two new deaths reported today.

A total of 29 new hospitalizations were reported, bringing the total number of hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic to 13,317 people. Intensive care unit admissions rose by two, raising the total number of admissions since the beginning of the pandemic to 2,954. The state estimates that 101,944 people have recovered from the coronavirus.

Montgomery County is at a ’level 3′ alert

Montgomery County was the only county to move up to level 3 “red alert” status in the Ohio Public Health Advisory System.

Clark County dropped down to level 2, Preble County remained at level 3 and the remainder of the Miami Valley stayed at level 2, Gov. Mike DeWine reported during his Thursday briefing on the coronavirus.

Dayton cut spending to parks, playgrounds due to the pandemic

The city of Dayton is scaling back its plans to invest nearly $1.5 million into its parks and playgrounds in 2020 and 2021 because COVID-19 has derailed its finances.

The city will install new playground equipment in four parks this year, but its spending isn’t expected to much exceed about half of its original planned investment of $744,000.

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