Hancock Public Health is urging people at high risk to avoid crowds amid the first confirmed cases of coronavirus in Ohio.

“It’s important for people in our county to understand that the general public is still at low risk. As we’ve learned more about COVID-19, there are some high-risk populations we need to protect,” said Hancock Public Health Commissioner Karim Baroudi.

The populations with a high risk include people over the age of 60 and people with chronic health conditions, such as diabetes and heart or lung disease.

Health officials say people at low risk should refrain from visiting people at high risk in settings such as long-term healthcare centers.

Epidemiologist Chad Masters says it’s a good idea for everyone to lessen their exposure to other people, not just the over 60 crowd.

“If people are able to FaceTime with their loved ones or Skype, or things like that to minimize their exposure to other people.”

Hancock Public Health says the public should continue to observe everyday precautions to decrease the spread of COVID-19 including: Stay home from work or school if you are ill; wash your hands often for 20 seconds; cough or sneeze into your sleeve; avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth; and stay away from people who are ill.

On Monday the governor announced the first three cases of coronavirus in Ohio in Cuyahoga County.

The Ohio Department of Health has opened a call center for COVID-19 questions that is available from 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. at (833) 427-5634.

The Findlay Police Department’s “Bikes, Books and Badges” program brings abandoned bikes back to life and distributes them to area youth and adults in need.

Crime prevention officer Brian White says when they needed help with the program they reached out to Joe Wahrer of Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima.

“And he offered to have inmates work on the bicycles for us and get them up to speed, so he actually comes up to Findlay and picks them up and takes them down there and then returns them when they’re fixed.”

Officer White says Joe is retiring soon and the police department wanted to say thanks for all he’s done for them and the “Bikes, Books and Badges” program.

“Hopefully his predecessor will continue the tradition,” White said.

The police department recently donated another one of those bikes to a student in need.

Read more about that here. 

Some polling places for Ohio’s March 17th primary election will be moved as part of the state of emergency issued in Ohio in response to confirmed cases of coronavirus.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose is ordering all polling places at senior citizen homes and nursing facilities be moved in all 88-counties across the state.

He says there are about 75 polling locations in these types of facilities in Ohio.

Ohioans are also being urged to participate in the vote-from-home option by requesting an absentee ballot.

Ballots need to be postmarked by March 16th for consideration.

The Hancock County Board of Elections says this will not affect them because they don’t have any polling locations in a nursing home.

The board of elections is coming across the same problem as most people; they couldn’t find any extra hand sanitizer to purchase to have available for voters.

However, they say they do have enough sanitizer to clean the polling machines after they’re used throughout the day.

Governor DeWine has announced changes in the way parolees are monitored in Ohio.

Recommendations from a working group created by DeWine last year include reducing the caseload for parole officers and expanding the use of GPS devices.

The report released says the current caseload is one parole officer for every 76 inmates.

The report says that should be reduced to one officer for every 50 inmates in general and one officer for every 40 in cases of inmates suffering from a mental illness or other disability.

The changes come about after several cases of violent-offenders being released on parole committing murder and other violent crimes.

The governor ordered a review of the state parole system following the alleged involvement of a recently released offender in a crash that killed two 6-year-old cousins last year.

Three Ohioans have tested positive for coronavirus and the governor has declared a state of emergency.

Governor DeWine and health officials held a news conference on Monday afternoon to announce the positive tests.

He says all three individuals who have tested positive for coronavirus are from Cuyahoga County.

“It’s important for us to take aggressive action to protect Ohioans, and therefore, I have declared a state of emergency in Ohio,”

The governor says the state of emergency is a legal necessity that allows state departments and agencies to better coordinate their response.

Get more information on coronavirus from the Ohio Department of Health.

The Ohio Department of Transportation says construction crews will be monitoring a nearby bald eagles nest for signs of stress during an upcoming project in Findlay.

Beginning on March 16th, the U.S. 68 bridge over State Route 15 will close for approximately four months as the bridge deck is replaced.

ODOT Public Information Officer Rhonda Pees says they are well aware of the nest in that area and have included built-in monitoring of it as part of the project.

“Our environmental people have trained our construction personnel on what to look for when eagles are distressed, which could be something like not coming back to the nest like they should.”

The Bald Eagle, our country’s national bird, was taken off the endangered species list in 2007 but remain protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

Pees says whenever ODOT has a project that could affect an endangered or protected species they have to include monitoring of the species into the project.

What happens if obvious signs of distress are observed in the bald eagles’ behavior?

“Technically it could put a halt to the project if we feel there is too much disruption to the eagles’ nest,” Pees said.

Get more on the project here.

The Ohio Department of Health now has the technology to test for coronavirus cases across the state.

Governor Mike DeWine made the announcement, saying authorities can test at least 300-people for the illness, with results being available within 24-hours.

Outside companies will also help with the testing and DeWine says LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics should also be able to run tests starting Monday.

The director of the Ohio Department of Health says priority will be based on who’s the most sick or at the highest-risk.

As of Monday, March 9th there were no confirmed cases in Ohio.

Meantime, Findlay City Schools is educating students on proper handwashing and Hancock Public Health is preparing for possible cases of the virus.

A man was killed in a motorcycle crash in Putnam County on Sunday.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol says Jerry Miller, 60, of Continental, was northbound on State Route 634 Sunday afternoon when he drove off the right side of the road at a curve.

His motorcycle struck a traffic sign and came to rest in a field.

Miller was pronounced dead at the scene by the Putnam County Coroner.

The highway patrol says Miller was not wearing a helmet.

The crash remains under investigation.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol was assisted on scene by the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, Continental Fire and EMS, Kalida Fire and EMS and Meyer’s Towing.

The Findlay Police Department has released the name of the person found dead in the Blanchard River on Sunday.

Authorities say Alex A. Stewart, 28, of 112 Hurd Avenue in Findlay, was discovered in the river at about 6:15 Sunday night.

The body was found in the river west of the Norfolk and Southern Railroad Bridge, north of the 300 block of Washington Street.

The body was recovered from the river by the Findlay Fire Department and turned over to Hanco EMS for transport to the Lucas County Coroner’s Office.

The cause of death is unknown at this time.

An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday at the Lucas County Coroner’s Office.

(ONN) – A convention center in Ohio’s capital city has sent more than a ton of food it had ordered for last week’s Arnold Sports Festival to tornado-ravaged Tennessee to help feed emergency personnel there.

The Greater Columbus Convention Center expected to feed around 200,000 visitors during the four-day festival that ran through Sunday, but those plans were thwarted Thursday when the Ohio Department of Health issued an order restricting most spectators because of coronavirus concerns.

Convention center officials say a refrigerated truck that left Columbus on Friday afternoon arrived Saturday morning at Nissan Stadium in Nashville to help feed 2,000 first responders.