Gov. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) says it is imperative for the state to ward off a spike of COVID-19 as the economy begins to reopen, one way of accomplishing that, according to DeWine, is to increase coronavirus testing.
DeWine says the state is working on increasing accessibility to COVID-19 testing, including pop-up testing sites.
As the governor notes, more testing could lead to revealing a higher number of cases. However, that's why DeWine says it's important to track the percentage of people who are testing positive, known as the positivity rate.
DeWine says that positivity rate has been between 4-6% since May, a stat he says he sees every day but isn't posted online.
"When I leave here today I'll go see exactly what we're putting up, I'll compare that with what I'm seeing, and we'll try to share more data," says DeWine.
On Tuesday, the state had conducted a total of 667,077 tests and reported a total of 42,767 cases. That shows a positivity rate of 6.4%.
The push from DeWine for more testing in Ohio comes as President Donald Trump suggested at a political rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma that he asked his staff to slow down coronavirus testing. White House officials later said the president was joking when he made those comments.
Watch: Gov. Mike DeWine gets tested for COVID-19 during statewide briefing.
To show the importance of testing, DeWine got tested for COVID-19 during his live statewide briefing on Tuesday along with First Lady Fran DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.
DeWine says they're trying to increase awareness about the importance of masks, social distancing, and testing. Three ads will be running online and on television over the next week to help in that effort.
