COLUMBUS, Ohio — On Tuesday, Gov. Mike DeWine provided new information on the fate of hundreds of thousands of Ohio students. Come fall, where and how these children will learn is largely dependent on where they live.


What You Need To Know

  • The governor rolled out his new back to school plans

  • 38 percent of students will be going back to school in person, 25 percent will be all remote and 24.5 percent will be hybrid

  • For those heading back to the classroom, distance, handwashing, and masks are key

  • Teachers are encouraged to take classes outdoors and frequently wipe down shared surfaces

“Blue — that’s all remote. Those are students that are going all remote and you'll see a lot of our urban centers, our city schools, are going remote — online learning.  Green — the green that you see there is a hybrid model — a mix of in-person and remote learning education,” said DeWine.

DeWine released a map, with the yellow areas signaling the thirty-eight percent of public students who will be going back to school in person.

25 percent will be fully remote.

24.5 percent will be hybrid.

“Whatever is going on in the community will be reflected in your school," said DeWine. "If there's high COVID spread thoughout the community, it's gonna be high in your school.”

These new guidelines come as schools nationwide grapple with their own plans.

Viral photos released from Georgia show packed high school hallways — a sight doctors say should be avoided.

“Ideally, schedules would be staggered in a way so that kids weren’t crammed up next to each other,” said Dr. Patty Manning, of Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

Dr. Patty Manning is the chief of staff at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She says for those heading back to the classroom, distance, hand washing, and masks are key. Teachers are encouraged to take their classes outdoors and frequently wipe down shared surfaces.

DeWine says the quicker we can get hold of this virus — in and outside the classroom — the faster students can get back to normal.

“If you want them to be able to have that experience, then it's incumbent upon all of us, every single one of us, to do everything we can to keep down the spread in the community in which that school lives,” he said.

The doctors also talked Tuesday about the communicability of children and how likely they are to contract coronavirus. They say that exposure is high for children, but 90 percent of them will be okay if they do become infected. However, around eight percent of children will end up in the hospital with virus-related complications, and one percent will end up in the ICU.

So, for the sake of all children, they are hoping this school reopening will be a safe one.