And then very quickly after that we got into the issue of the NCAA, the play-off games, the first two nights were going to be in Dayton, Ohio. What I felt was, it was a matter of life and death, that we were protecting human life and we had to act. It was not easy because no one had really done this before, but I just weighed it out.

We just felt it was a recipe for disaster. And it just didn’t make sense to have 60,000 people from 80 countries come into Columbus for a four-day event and be in close quarters. But again, we listened to the experts, talked with them. And it was a tough decision to close it because I know I was not aware at least of anybody else in the country shutting down of a major event like that. I think also we had an event that really forced us to make a decision and that was the Arnold Classic. That even delaying a few days can make a huge amount of difference.

And the one message I kept getting from the people I was talking to, who really understood these pandemics, is you have to move quickly and you have to move early.

I think that has served me well during this because we’ve just been really focused on trying to find out everything that we could. I have spent 40 years in public office and the mistakes I’ve made are generally when I didn’t have enough information, didn’t talk to the right people, didn’t drill down to get all the facts. I think that what I’ve tried to do throughout this is just get the best information I could, talk to the scientists, talk to the medical professionals. She has been keeping me informed about what was coming. Well, I have a very good health director, Dr. Did you know something other Governors didn’t? You’ve been a step ahead of us on other things: advising no spectators at indoor sporting events, calling on universities to go to remote instruction, closing bars and restaurants. You were the first Governor in the country to announce the entire state school system would close, starting on March 16. DeWine summoned the experts and then heeded their advice even as it threatened his political popularity.īelow is a lightly edited transcript of the conversation. Although his state now has about 6,600 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 274 deaths, DeWine argues it could have been far worse had he waited any longer. This Imagination Library book is about empathy and kindness.The veteran politician took a break from briefings and budget calls this past weekend to speak with TIME as he walked around his farm near Dayton, Ohio, with his new puppy. DeWine toured the Nisonger Center’s Early Learning Program and read The Rabbit Listened to a group of preschoolers. Dane Snyder, Section Chief of Primary Care Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.Īdditionally, Candy Engel, a nurse manager at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, detailed the process currently in place for enrolling newborns at the Wexner Medical Center.įollowing the press conference, Mrs. Paz, Executive Vice President and Chancellor for Health Affairs at Ohio State, and Chief Executive Officer of The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center Laura Justice, Executive Director of The Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy and Dr. DeWine was joined by several experts who explained the brain science benefit of early childhood literacy, and how impactful reading at an early age can be through a child’s lifetime. There’s only one shot at getting their growth and development right.” “When you enroll a newborn in the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library, they will be sent 60 books before they enter kindergarten,” said First Lady Fran DeWine. First Lady Fran DeWine held a press conference at The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center to encourage newborn enrollment in the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library.

Dewine press conference