Ray Horner Show

The world is waiting for a COVID-19 vaccine, but how soon will it be available to the public? And if there is a vaccine, how effective will it be?

Donna Skoda is the commissioner inside the Summit County Health Department, and she joined the Ray Horner Morning Show to touch on the recent vaccine trials. One of those trials was from AstraZeneca, which had to put theirs on hold due to a patient experiencing a serious side effect.

Skoda also mentioned the cases inside Summit County, which have been steady, and she also looked at the upcoming flu season and how to tell the difference between that strain and the novel coronavirus.

Orange barrels in Akron have essentially been part of the downtown aesthetic for some time, but a two-year project is nearing completion and those barrels will be moved uptown.

Akron mayor Dan Horrigan touched on the end of phase one of the massive downtown construction project, and is looking at what will come during phase two. Main Street, which had been out of order to two-lane traffic from the Bounce Innovation Hub towards Lock 3, is now open to drivers, as well as between Bowery and Route 18.

Horrigan says phase two will head northward to Perkins Street. He says the city is working with the businesses along Main Street that were not only affected by the construction, but the pandemic as well.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose

Meredith Myers, Clinical Director at IBH in Akron, discussing how the pandemic and isolation has affected patients in recovery.

Fall sports were originally put on hold and delayed, but a Monday vote with the school board reversed that decision. There will be fall sports in Akron Public Schools in 2020, but not without restrictions.

Akron Public Schools superintendent David James joined the Ray Horner Morning Show to talk about what’s on his plate for both contact and non-contact fall sports. With football, most games will be played at Ellet High School, and there will be very limited and socially-distanct spectators. Questions have been asked about testing, and while that is not currently an option, James says they are doing temperature checks and monitoring symptoms.

The soon-to-be-retiring superintendent also talked about the marching bands, which will not travel to opposing stadiums. The band will only perform at their home stadium, and band instructors are urging their classes to use their own reeds and mouthpieces.

Now that contact sports are back, teams like the East Dragons are ready to get back in the swing of things, according to head coach Marques Hayes.

Patrick Bravo is the president of the school board, and he discussed the reversal in this decision on the Ray Horner Morning Show. Bravo mentioned they will continue to work with Summit County Public Health, but they ultimately listened to the parents and the community who wanted to see the student-athletes get to practice and play again.

In July, both the city of Akron and the state of Ohio passed a mandatory mask mandate inside businesses and indoor public places. Over the weekend, Summit County followed suit, but what is different about this mandate from the city and state guidelines?

Summit County Public Health commissioner Donna Skoda talked about this mandate in more detail on the Ray Horner Morning Show. Skoda says the additional $100 fine will not be for the non-mask wearers, but for the businesses that aren’t enforcing the masks and social distancing.

Skoda also touched on the potential spread with schools mostly heading back to school, as well as the recent CDC story that says 94% of the COVID-19 fatalities were due to comorbidities.

Akron has been all over the news in the last ten days, from a tanker crash that killed an 18-year-old to President Trump’s boycott of Goodyear tires.

Those topics were addressed with Mayor Dan Horrigan on the Ray Horner Morning Show. Though the passenger lost his life, Horrigan says he was proud of how the quickly the public safety and services cleaned up the oil on Route 8, which reopened later that day. He also called out the president for this boycott, and has said he has received well wishes via letters and social media over their support of Goodyear.

Other topics mentioned by the mayor were the reopening of many education buildings, the fight against COVID-19, the Akron Police Department, and the recently created gun violence task force.

The University of Akron celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2020, and like the city of Akron itself, the college has also had its share of ups and downs.

Those ups and downs are documented in a new six-part series called Keeping the Lamp of Learning Burning, which was written and produced by Dave Lieberth. The local historian and proud UA grad discussed this docuseries with Ray Horner, which breaks down the history from 1870 to the present, the background of the Zips nickname, and courses in rubber chemistry.

The docuseries is up for viewing on YouTube.