CLEVELAND — COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising rapidly across Ohio, with more than 7,300 new cases reported Tuesday.
Nearly 3,500 people are hospitalized right now, with 18 at Akron Children’s Hospital, which a spokesperson said is the highest number they have had so far and the pediatric intensive care unit is full.
Health officials said the best way to prevent this is getting vaccinated, wearing a mask and social distancing, but some misinformation is spreading on social media, leading to confusion.
One of the myths is about the Pfizer vaccine, and if there is both a fully approved version and an emergency authorized version.
Summit County Public Health Commissioner Donna Skoda said there are not two different versions, just different names.
“They all get a trade name. But it is the exact same pharmaceutical. There's no difference in what we have right now and what was approved,” Skoda said.
Despite the new name, it’s the same vaccine that’s been used for months.
Another big question right now is can you collect unemployment if you have been fired or quit for refusing a vaccine mandate on the job.
For that, former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann weighed in.
“If you're fired for cause, then you're not entitled to unemployment. If you quit voluntarily, you're not entitled to unemployment. And if your employer were to contest a claim that you made to the Ohio Bureau of Unemployment, they would have a pretty good argument that by failing to comply with a OSHA regulation that they would have risked being fined by the federal government if they had continued your employment there," he said.
News 5 asked him about mask mandates in schools. He said if a school board decides it’s safer for children to wear masks in the school building, the administrators of that district have an obligation to enforce that decision.
If someone breaks the rules, they could be disciplined, including suspension or expulsion.
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