9-09-2020 12:16am

College Students Could Spread Coronavirus During Thanksgiving Break

Rick Amburgey Neighbor

Gov. Mike DeWine. Photo Contributed.

Some colleges plan to dismiss college students at Thanksgiving and not have classes resume until January.

While responding to a question during his COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said it raises the questions about precautions that will be taken before college students return home if the positivity rate is high there.

DeWine said there may be a lot more ability to test by mid-to-late November. "Making sure whether they are positive or not before they leave would certainly be the ideal situation so we could protect the vulnerable people are in their home back where ever home is," he said.

DeWine responded to another question about whether the rise is positive cases had resulted in more college students being admitted to the hospital. "I don't think we've seen that transfer into higher number of people going to the hospital. In fact, I think that's not been true," he said, adding that the concern is they might go back home and infect someone else.

Health departments have also been concerned about spread in the community, DeWine said. concern spread into the community. He added that, to his knowledge, they have not seen much of that. "What we do know is While a 20-year-old can get pretty sick, they usually do not end up in the hospital," DeWine said.