Across the U.S., COVID-19 has applied fresh pressure to an already overburdened child welfare system. The pandemic has closed courts, sidelined caseworkers and slowed the process for reunifying families. Most visits with parents now take place online. Worry about infection has had a chilling effect on recruiting foster parents to meet the need. Child welfare advocates worry about the added trauma and isolation for already vulnerable kids.

Nearly a million Ohioans lack access to high-speed Internet. So doing schoolwork or regular work online is not an option unless users go in search of WiFi hotspots. The pandemic has magnified a problem the state has struggled to solve.

Predicting the course of a pandemic is a complicated proposition, especially when testing is limited. As recently as the beginning of this month, Ohio was predicted to see as many as 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day by mid-April. More recent models reduce the peak to around 1,600 per day.

This episode originally aired on April 14, 2020. How the immune system responds to COVID-19 is one of the mysteries doctors and scientists are trying to solve.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Friday reopening the state must be done in a slow, common-sense way. But he faces growing pressure from workers, businesses and some state lawmakers who want an immediate return to work. Democratic leaders want more testing and a slower return. Meanwhile, Ohio’s confirmed cases continue to rise, as do the number of those seeking unemployment.

Ohio’s surge of COVID-19 patients is expected over the weekend. Newer modeling reveals the state’s social distancing policies have worked to flatten the curve of the virus. However, the virus continues to spread and sicken residents.

This episode originally aired on April 9, 2020. After six years at the helm, Dr. Michael Drake faces his greatest challenge as Ohio State’s president: COVID-19.

Former President Barack Obama endorsed Joe Biden this week, the last candidate left in the Democratic presidential primary. Biden also picked up endorsements from primary rivals Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, building a possible bridge between two factions in the Democratic Party.

While the coronavirus pandemic dominates the news, a rash of Columbus-area overdoses is a reminder that the opioid epidemic continues to take its toll on Ohio. Between January 1 and February 21 there were nearly 50% more overdose deaths in Franklin County than in the same period of 2019, according to the Franklin County Coroner’s Office.

Wherever data is available in the U.S, the COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately afflicting African Americans. In Chicago, where African Americans make up 30% of the population, seven out of 10 of those who have died are black. Many experts explain that COVID-19, like other illnesses, just exacerbates pre-existing health disparities in the black community. Others explain the disproportionate COVID-19 mortality rate and those health disparities as symptoms of the deeper racially charged