coronavirus

The Uphill Battle Ohio Job Seekers Face

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Buckeyes Battle Uneven Playing Field; COVID-19 exacerbates trends; Women and Young Workers Hit Particularly Hard

Graphics by Cid Standifer

Note: this article has been updated to include previously unavailable nursing home data. Carmine Ballard graduated from The Ohio State University in 2016, with two Bachelor of Arts degrees— one in Psychology, another in Women’s and Gender Studies. Ballard’s parents helped them through college— paying their tuition. Yet, despite that, Ballard still ended up with about $10,000 worth of federal student loans by graduation, for living expenses during college. Ballard graduated with a 3.0 average, and made the dean’s list several times.

Civil Rights

Ohio hospitals remain mum on changes to local bed and ventilator counts; uncertainty affects local patients

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The Ohio Department of Health gets daily updates on the total number of beds and ventilators that could be available for COVID-19 patients at hospitals throughout the state. But so far the agency hasn’t provided any hospital-by-hospital breakdown, and the agencies that collect capacity information on their behalf have also declined to release their assessments. The result: Ohioans don’t know how many beds and ventilators are available where they live. Timely and meaningful knowledge could benefit Ohioans from a health perspective, while also helping them understand the range of public policy issues surrounding the crisis. 

The availability of resources to care for COVID-19 patients could mean life or death for thousands of Ohioans. “It’s what keeps me awake at night,” said Ohio Department of Health (ODH) director of health Amy Acton, MD, MPH of her fear of running out of beds, ventilators and personal protective equipment.