Ohio State extends state of emergency through May 23, fall plans by mid-June

In a universitywide email Saturday, Ohio State extended its state of emergency until May 23. Credit: Casey Cascaldo | Former Managing Editor for Digital

With fall semester plans to be announced by mid-June, Ohio State’s state of emergency will extend to May 23, according to a Saturday universitywide email.

University President Michael V. Drake said in the email that the university will extend the state of emergency to May 23 due to COVID-19. The state of emergency, which was originally announced March 22 and is reviewed on a weekly basis, allows leaders at Ohio State to use Disaster Leave (Policy 6.28).

The email comes after the start of summer term classes Wednesday. Though summer classes will continue to be conducted virtually, Drake said the university’s post-pandemic task force is “developing plans for the fall and beyond.”

According to the email, some essential operations have resumed at the university, including elective procedures that do not require an overnight stay at the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State. Starting Monday, some Transportation and Traffic employees will return to campus while following social distancing guidelines to oversee an expected increase in patient traffic at the Wexner Medical Center.

The email also announced that plans for reopening child care services are being developed by the post-pandemic operations task force. The announcement comes after Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday that child care services could open May 31 if establishments follow guidelines put forth by the state.

“We anticipate reopening our child care services in a phased approach in order to meet requirements for reduced numbers of children per classroom and other state guidelines,” the email states. 

According to the email, families have been contacted regarding their needs for child care.

Decisions for the opening of operations are reviewed by Gail Marsh, chair of the university’s post-pandemic operations task force and senior vice president and chief strategy officer for the university and the medical center, and Dr. Amy Fairchild, chair of the task force’s safe campus and scientific advisory subgroup and dean of the College of Public Health.

Updates from the task force will be made available on its recently launched website.