Ohio joins Pennsylvania in statewide mask mandate

Effective Thursday, it will take more than a trip across the Ohio state line for Pennsylvanians seeking to escape orders requiring face masks in public places.

Ohio will join Pennsylvania in having a statewide mask mandate.

One day after President Trump took to the airwaves endorsing masks and conceding that the pandemic may well get worse before it gets better, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued a statewide mask mandate, effective 6 p.m. Thursday.

Although Pennsylvania has had such an order in place statewide since July 1, DeWine was hesitant to issue a statewide order. Until confronted with steadily increasing cases of covid-19, he opted instead to issue orders at county level.

Ohio has recorded nearly 79,000 positive covid-19 cases, with about 20,000 of those coming this month. It has seen more than 3,200 coronavirus-involved deaths.

He tweeted out the announcement of the new statewide order Wednesday.

This order only requires those who are 10 years old or older to wear a mask. In addition, the following do not need to wear a mask: pic.twitter.com/xv9CX8itYi

— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) July 22, 2020

The Ohio Republican snagged headlines across the country in March when he became the first governor in the nation to order a statewide school closing in an attempt to mitigate the coronavirus pandemic. Other states, including Pennsylvania, quickly followed suit.

While Pennsylvania’s mask order required all Pennsylvanians above the age of 2 to wear masks in businesses and indoor public spaces as well as outdoors in public places where there is no space for social distancing, DeWine was a little more lenient, setting the cut-off age for those exempt from the order at 10 years old.