Association of Ohio Health Commissioners (AOHC)
COVID-19
Respond, Re-Open and Recover
Ohio is fortunate to have a competent and committed public health system which includes healthcare, education, business, university, non-profit and other public sector agencies. Ohio’s decentralized governmental public health system allows the 113 local health departments (LHDs) to administer the programs and services to protect and improve the health of our state. To date, Ohio has “passed” the COVID-19 test demonstrating strong state and local leadership taking aggressive steps to minimize the spread of the disease. Locally, LHDs are leading their community’s efforts by engaging with partners and municipalities, implementing state guidance, notifying and quarantining close contacts of all confirmed COVID-19 cases (contact tracing) and communicating with our residents the latest information. As we move forward, AOHC is committed to supporting and informing the state’s guidance and leading our local efforts to ensure we continue our strong momentum. In order to do that, AOHC is offering a vision to achieve three goals to protect the citizens of Ohio.
Goal 1: Continue a state and local coordinated response to the pandemic May 1-through successful completion of mass vaccination effort:
Goal 2: Inform the Responsible Ohio Reopen initiative: May 1- Jan. 1, 2021:
Goal 3: Create the conditions for long-term recovery: 2020-2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic has already begun to exacerbate the social determinants of health including employment, transportation, housing, education, public safety, availability of healthy foods, ACES and technology. As a public health system, the state should coordinate its planning in poverty, economic development, addiction and early childhood education as well as invest in more public health workers to assist residents in overcoming these challenges.