COVID-19 Restrictions Loosened For Ohio Weddings, Sporting Events

COLUMBUS, OH — Ohio officially loosened COVID-19 restrictions for in-person events this week.

Additional attendees will be allowed at sporting events, wedding receptions, proms, funeral repasts, and entertainment venues, Gov. Mike DeWine announced. Health orders expanding attendee limits were signed Tuesday.

Here are some of the key changes that are effective this week:

• Wedding receptions, proms, funeral repasts and other events must comply with previous health orders covering restaurants and facial coverings.
• Banquet centers can host events with more than 300 people, as long as other health orders are followed.
• Indoor sports venues can host 25 percent of their maximum capacity for events.
• Outdoor sports can have 30 percent of their maximum capacity for events.
• Indoor entertainment venues can have 25 percent of their maximum capacity.
• Outdoor entertainment venues can host 30 percent of their maximum capacity for events.

"This is the start," Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said. "If conditions on the ground continue to improve, we can do even more."

One of the reasons DeWine loosened health restrictions was the expansion of the COVID-19 vaccination program. This week, Ohio will receive nearly 450,000 vaccine doses from three companies, the most doses yet received by the state.

"The goal is to get back to what life was before the pandemic. There's a bridge to that life and we have to take that bridge. The bridge is built on two things: vaccinations and to continue to wear masks," DeWine said. "There will be a point in the future, when we have herd immunity, when we won't have to wear masks."

DeWine expanded the vaccine program to include 60-year-olds, police officers, childcare workers, funeral home workers, and people with certain medical conditions.

"The age numbers are very critical. Two-thirds of hospitalizations have occurred with people 60 and older," DeWine said. He said 93 percent of Ohio's COVID-19 deaths were among residents 60 and older. "We felt it was time to make this expansion."