COLUMBUS (WDTN) – Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has asked Dr. Amy Acton to issue an order requiring long-term care facilities to notify residents and families within 24 hours of a resident or staff member becoming infected with COVID-19.

The Ohio Department of Health was strongly encouraging facilities to do this previously, but the order would make is a requirement.

“If you’re thinking about taking a loved one or if you’re thinking about going to a nursing home, you have every right to know what the situation is there,” DeWine said.

He said the state also plans to make a list of long-term care facilities where an associated person has tested positive on the Ohio Department of Health’s website.

Acton issued a word of caution against making quick judgments about these facilities, as she believes workers are doing everything they can to keep people safe.

She referenced Koester Pavilion in Miami County, one of the first care facilities in the state to report an outbreak.

“If you remember back to one of the initial nursing homes that had an outbreak in the Dayton area, we had food delivery trucks who wouldn’t even drop off the pallets of food to the nursing home. This isn’t what we want to create,” she said.

Acton went on to say the point of posting the names of the facilities is not to play the blame game, but rather to help control the spread of this highly-contagious virus.