Ohio extends Stay At Home order

On April 2, 2020, Governor DeWine announced that Ohio’s Stay At Home Order is extended until May 1, 2020. The new order takes effect at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 6, 2020. The order is largely the same as the previous order, including what constitutes an essential business or operation. (Bricker’s analysis on essential businesses and operations can be found here.) The order also incorporates new guidance on essential employees issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Some of the changes to the new order when it goes into effect include:

• Creates a Dispute Board, comprised of the Director of Commerce, the Director of the Developmental Services Agency and the Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission, to settle situations in which local departments of health have made different determinations on what is an essential business involving similar businesses
• Creates requirements that businesses establish capacity limits, primarily impacting retail and grocery businesses that remain open but does not mandate specific capacity limits
• Asks travelers to quarantine for 14 days that are coming into Ohio from another state but does not include people that live and work on the state’s border who are traveling for essential services or for essential employment
• Weddings are not regulated, but applies the limits on gatherings of 10 persons for receptions
• Closes campgrounds and swimming pools with some exceptions
• Parks are not closed, but the Director of the Department of Natural Resources may take action at certain locations if crowds do not allow for proper social distancing