COLUMBUS, Ohio — The day after announcing the beginning stages of the plan to reopen Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted announced they have started assembling groups to help advise them on a plan to open businesses in the next wave of Ohio reopening plan, including restaurants, tattoo parlors, hair salons and barbershops.
DeWine said the groups will be assembled by the end of the week and discussions involving the needs of these businesses as well as best practices they will need to follow once they are able to reopen.
Legislative leaders and business associations across the state will reach out to people to join the discussion groups, DeWine said.
Husted said that the groups are the first step in reopening these businesses and were crucial in the plan to reopen elective health care, manufacturing, distribution and construction as well as general offices and retail, service and consumer businesses which will begin its roll out on May 1.
Two weeks before announcing May 1 as the date of the gradual reopening of Ohio, DeWine and his team announced they were creating a board of economic advisers with CEOs from both major companies and smaller businesses across the state to help with the business and economic impact on Ohio the pandemic has caused. This group helped the state develop the plan to reopen the first wave of businesses.
“We just want you to know that we’re preparing for this, that we’re hard at work on it. Our work doesn’t stop,” Husted said. “But it is always important to remind that the more we follow the protocols—whether it’s the distancing, the disinfecting, the masks, things like that—the more we slow the spread. The more we maintain a healthy environment, the sooner the next phase comes.”
A specific date for the second phase of Ohio's reopening plan has not been given at this time.
RELATED: Reopening Ohio: Gov. DeWine gives dates, protocols for reopening businesses beginning May 1
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