Like thousands of our fellow Ohioans across he state, Tom and I can be be found every afternoon at 2 pm, seven days a week, in front of our television watching Ohio Governor Mike Dewine's daily press conference.
By way of these daily briefings Governor Dewine keeps the Ohio citizenry informed and updated on the latest news and developments in our state on the coronavirus pandemic, including what steps are being taken, what strides are being made, and what directives are being issued at the state level to mitigate the spread of the virus, flatten the curve, and offer some economic relief to Ohioans.
Every day the Governor is joined at his press conference by Dr. Amy Acton, Director of the Ohio Department of Health, who elucidates the medical and scientific aspects of the covid-19 pandemic;
Every day the Governor is joined at his press conference by Dr. Amy Acton, Director of the Ohio Department of Health, who elucidates the medical and scientific aspects of the covid-19 pandemic;
...Ohio Lieutenant Governor John Husted, who tends to cover the economic matters;
...and a couple of energetic, mesmerizing deaf interpreters.
Along with the latest updates, information and directives Governor Dewine, Dr. Acton and Lieutenant Governor Husted generally share with us some words of hope, inspiration, and always, always, always a plea to stay home and practice social distancing.
Last week Dr. Acton and Governor Dewine began talking about a new machine that had been developed by Battelle, a global scientific research and development company located in Columbus. It was reported that this machine could sterilize N95 hospital masks, up to 80,000 thousand at a time, so that these critically-needed masks could be reused by doctors, nurses and other health care providers who are putting their lives on the line by treating coronavirus patients without sufficient protective gear.
Battelle had already produced three of the mask-sanitizing machines which were ready for use; in fact, according to Governor Dewine, one machine would be for use here in Columbus, one wold be sent to New York, and one would be sent to Washington, D.C. Several more were in production to be sent to other coronavirus hot spots such as Chicago and Los Angeles.
However, there was a hitch; these brand-new machines had not yet been approved for safe and effective use by the Food and Drug Administration. For a few days Governor Dewine and Dr. Acton kept us apprised of their argument with the FDA to bypass the standard protocols on new technologies and give emergency approval for use of the sanitizing machines.
We'd been told last Saturday by Governor Dewine that he would skip the next day's press conference for the sake of giving everybody involved in the conferences a day off, unless some important news broke. Late Sunday morning it was announced on local news websites that the Governor had called a press conference for that afternoon, same time, same place. This meant that there was some important breaking news.
The news turned out to be that the Food and Drug Administration had given approval for Battelle's mask sanitizing machines to clean 10,000 masks at a time. This number, though, infuriated our Governor who angrily insisted that the FDA relent under the circumstances and give an emergency waiver of its testing regulations to allow the machine to clean 80,000 masks, as, according to the Battelle scientists, it was built to do.
Late Sunday night the FDA relented and approval was given for the masks to clean 80,000 masks at a time.
At yesterday's press conference the Governor said that the mask sanitizing machine is ready to be up and running today in Columbus and other machines will soon be on their way to other cities around the country.
The Battelle mask sanitizing machine.
Last week Dr. Acton and Governor Dewine began talking about a new machine that had been developed by Battelle, a global scientific research and development company located in Columbus. It was reported that this machine could sterilize N95 hospital masks, up to 80,000 thousand at a time, so that these critically-needed masks could be reused by doctors, nurses and other health care providers who are putting their lives on the line by treating coronavirus patients without sufficient protective gear.
Battelle had already produced three of the mask-sanitizing machines which were ready for use; in fact, according to Governor Dewine, one machine would be for use here in Columbus, one wold be sent to New York, and one would be sent to Washington, D.C. Several more were in production to be sent to other coronavirus hot spots such as Chicago and Los Angeles.
However, there was a hitch; these brand-new machines had not yet been approved for safe and effective use by the Food and Drug Administration. For a few days Governor Dewine and Dr. Acton kept us apprised of their argument with the FDA to bypass the standard protocols on new technologies and give emergency approval for use of the sanitizing machines.
We'd been told last Saturday by Governor Dewine that he would skip the next day's press conference for the sake of giving everybody involved in the conferences a day off, unless some important news broke. Late Sunday morning it was announced on local news websites that the Governor had called a press conference for that afternoon, same time, same place. This meant that there was some important breaking news.
The news turned out to be that the Food and Drug Administration had given approval for Battelle's mask sanitizing machines to clean 10,000 masks at a time. This number, though, infuriated our Governor who angrily insisted that the FDA relent under the circumstances and give an emergency waiver of its testing regulations to allow the machine to clean 80,000 masks, as, according to the Battelle scientists, it was built to do.
Late Sunday night the FDA relented and approval was given for the masks to clean 80,000 masks at a time.
At yesterday's press conference the Governor said that the mask sanitizing machine is ready to be up and running today in Columbus and other machines will soon be on their way to other cities around the country.
The Battelle mask sanitizing machine.
The movie version of the above events began rolling in my mind while watching Sunday's press conference.
| I saw Ohio Governor Mike Dewine, |  |
| ...played in the movie by Toby Jones, |  |
...angrily pleading with the recalcitrant FDA officials and convincing them to give emergency approval for the machine that would save the lives of doctors and nurses on the front lines of the corona virus epidemic.
| I saw Dr. Amy Acton, brilliant global health scientist and Governor Dewine's vital right hand, |  |
...played by Uma Thurman.
| Lt. Governor John Husted, Governor Dewine's other right hand, |  |
| ...would be played by Neil Patrick Harris. |  |
| Among the other characters in the story, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and lead member of the White House Corona Virus Task Force, |  |
| ...would be played by John Turturro, |  |
| ... Dr. Deborah Birx, Coronavirus Task Force Response Coordinator, |  |
| ...would be played by Renee Zellweger, |  |
...and Donald Trump, as he continues to play the comedian throughout this national crisis, would naturally be played by his alter ego, Alex Baldwin.
In my movie, new technology would then evolve at lightening speed that would produce machines to sterilize all existing personal protective gear for health care workers even as production of new, better protective gear reached record speed and the gear began flying off the assembly lines to doctors and nurses. In addition, tests not only for the coronavirus but for blood serum antibodies - to determine who had immunity - were perfected and distributed nationwide in such great quantities that every American could be tested as often as necessary. And a miraculous cure for the virus was discovered, followed by an 100% effective vaccine.
The final scenes would be of people around the world returning to their normal lives.
The final scenes would be of people around the world returning to their normal lives.
It's only a movie in my mind. But these days, don't we have time to dream?
References:
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2020/03/29/coronavirus-ohio-mike-dewine-fda-ruling-battelle-sterilization/2935414001/
https://www.wdtn.com/news/local-news/battelle-allowed-to-sterilize-160k-masks-in-ohio-daily-after-fda-lifts-limit/
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2020/03/29/coronavirus-ohio-mike-dewine-fda-ruling-battelle-sterilization/2935414001/
https://www.wdtn.com/news/local-news/battelle-allowed-to-sterilize-160k-masks-in-ohio-daily-after-fda-lifts-limit/
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