ICYMI: Your top stories from the weekend

Here are the top five stories you might have missed from this weekend in the Dayton area.


Dayton nurse, mother of 7 dies of COVID-19; not able to hold newborn

Tawauna Averette

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The 42-year-old Kettering Health Network nurse and Dayton mother of seven got sick with COVID-19 at the end of October after several other nurses on her unit got sick with the virus, her husband Charles Averette told the Dayton Daily News.

At first, Tawauna, who was pregnant with her seventh child, Skye, was doing OK. She went to the hospital a few days after she was diagnosed, though she eventually seemed to get better and was released.

While she was in the ICU, Tawauna gave birth to Skye via C-Section six weeks early because doctors were worried about her health.

On Sunday, Charles got a phone call from the hospital. His wife’s heart had stopped beating for 10 minutes.

“I rushed to the hospital. They were telling me like, that it wasn’t looking good,” he said.

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Montgomery County: Property value increase at $3.5B after state-ordered adjustment

After a state-ordered adjustment upward, Montgomery County property values now show an increase of $3.5 billion in 2020, about double what the county auditor figured was gained over the last three years.

Credit: JIM NOELKER

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Credit: JIM NOELKER

After a state-ordered adjustment, Montgomery County property values now show an increase of $3.5 billion in 2020, about double what the county auditor figured was gained over the past three years.

The overall increase of 13.3% from 2017 puts the total taxable value of all properties in the county at about $29.8 billion, the highest in history, Montgomery County Auditor Karl Keith told about 70 area officials Thursday.

“They told us that they expected us to see an 18% increase, which was way off from what we had determined,” Keith said. “There’s still some confusion in our minds as to why the state used a different methodology this year than they’ve ever used in the past.”

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Ohio nursing home deaths spike as pandemic climbs

The number of Ohioans in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities who have died from COVID-19 has been climbing in November and into December in step with the growing intensity of the pandemic.

There were 212 new deaths from the virus reported from Dec. 3 to Dec. 9, per the Ohio Department of Health. That’s up from 155 deaths the week prior and 90 weekly deaths a month prior.

A one-month delay in distributing the vaccine to all long-term care residents and caregivers, could result in more than 20,000 of residents across the country losing their life when a vaccine could have saved them, according to Mark Parkinson, CEO of the American Health Care Association, which represents nursing homes.

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‘I couldn’t find the balance.’ Impact of women leaving workforce will ripple through economy

Sharon Reetz, of Monroe, made the decision to quit her job and stay at home with her son, Esteban, 3, and start her own business. NICK GRAHAM / STAFF

Credit: Nick Graham

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Credit: Nick Graham

Women have born the brunt of the economic pain in this pandemic recession, hit hard by layoffs in the shutdown then by shrinking child care options and schools shifting to remote learning.

The pandemic amplified existing inequity in women’s pay, a shortage of affordable, quality child care and the need for businesses to be more family friendly, experts said.

In Montgomery County more women than men filed initial claims for unemployment from March — when the pandemic economic shutdown began — through October, with a total of 46,519 women and 39,642 men filing, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

“Women in most circumstances disproportionally bear responsibility for child care for young or school age children. When you throw COVID into the mix, child care facilities closed and schools closed,” Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said. “Moms were not able to work and that hit the employment numbers for women very hard. Many of them left the workforce.”

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What we know about plans to distribute the coronavirus vaccine locally

In this March 16, 2020, file photo, pharmacist Michael Witte, left, gives Rebecca Sirull a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, Monday, March 16, 2020, at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle. Sirull is the third patient to receive the shot in the study. Researchers say the first phase of human clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine in healthy volunteers in the Pittsburgh area could start in the coming months.

Credit: Ted S. Warren/AP

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Credit: Ted S. Warren/AP

Plans for distributing the coronavirus vaccine are constantly evolving and a lot of unknowns remain, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, local health experts said.

People should plan to wear masks, social distance and follow other safety protocols for at least several more months, the experts said, as it will take time to manufacture and distribute a vaccine to most Americans.

A Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized the emergency use of a vaccine against COVID-19 produced by Pfizer and BioNTech. Health experts believe another vaccine created by Moderna, which is of virtually equal effectiveness, will also be approved by the FDA this week.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has announced plans to administer roughly 659,000 doses of the two different vaccines this month. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines require two doses administered 28 days and 21 days apart respectively.

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