In a tweet today in honor of Arbor Day,  the Ohio Governor noted that holding a buckeye nut in one's pocket is considered good luck.

And as Gov. Mike DeWine plans for the first phase of reopening the state on May 1, the state's leading Democrats sent him an "unlucky" letter Friday over his plans to reopen the state. The letter stated while the party is aware of the hardships that the stay-at-home situation has caused, "reopening the state too soon could negate the sacrifices of those who have missed going to school, lost their livelihoods, and put their lives on hold for the greater good."

The letter stated the number one priority as a state must be to protect the health and safety of all Ohioans and added: "we oppose any plan that disproportionately prioritizes the economy over people’s lives." The full letter is available below.

On Friday, the governor stated during his 2 p.m. press conference he was announcing a new program to cover to all children aging out of the foster care system, ensuring that no child leaves foster care without a proper place to go during the pandemic.

However, the big announcement was testing and tracing as the new tool to help fight COVID-19.

He confirmed that while Ohio has had testing shortages, it was because not enough swabs and labs did not have access to reagent for testing. 

Reagent, or the "secret sauce" as DeWine called it, and he added that a new reagent received FDA approval on Monday, which would allow for more testing.

He also announced that 1 million swaps will be manufactured at a 3D printing facility in Toledo.

With these new supplies, Ohio will have the ability to start testing 7,200 tests per day and 22,000 tests by the end of May, including in nursing homes, stores, and to allow us to have a COVID tracing system in Ohio. The state currently is testing 3,728 people per day, according to the state board of health.

DeWine said Ohio will go on the offensive to battle the disease — with contact tracing, which will be run by the local health department, will lead the battle to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. 

He went onto explain how contact tracing will work and said this new tool will work in conjunction with wearing maskings, handwashing, and social distancing.

Dr. Mark Hurst, Medical Director of the Ohio Department of Health, explained that isolation is key if anyone has any of the symptoms of COVID-19. 

In a hand-drawn explanation, DeWine and Dr. Hurst used their graphic to explain close contact and contact tracing, for example, anyone who is exposed to a person within a 48 hour period prior to the patient having symptoms. This explanation also included telling a health care provider about the infected person travels including grocery stores, gas stations, and who is at risk-based under the circumstance. 

With testing and tracing, the governor said it is the only way to stop the further spread of the coronavirus.

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said Ohio has a winning strategy to play both offense and defense with testing, tracing along with the basics of social distancing, handwashing, and mask-wearing to stop further spread.

Husted also reminded Ohioans to get the election ballots turned in, as Monday is the postmark deadline for Ohio's election, or until Tuesday by 7:30 p.m. to deliver it to your local board of election.

As far as new prison data, 336 new inmates were released, totaling 884 total released so far. 

The governor reminded all the way to reduce risks by staying away from groups, and the importance of handwashing. 

As far as return of the virus in the fall, the governor said he doesn't know, but hoped that testing and tracing would give us a better chance to reduce the spread going forward.