For the past couple of months, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has held daily briefings at 2:00 p.m. to discuss where the state stands in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Friday, during the same time-frame, he answered some of the questions the Valley has in an interview with 21 News, as the state continues to reopen.

With hundreds of questions posted to the 21 WFMJ Facebook page across various topics, including when the new school year will start, and if there will be a Canfield Fair, DeWine stressed multiple times that the virus isn't going away, and the key is to learn to live with it, and live with it safely.

"It won't last forever, but it's going to last for awhile and we've got to deal with it," the governor said. "We've got to deal with it so we can open the economy, get people back to work, but we got to do it as safely as we can."

DeWine added, "You know, there's a risk as we open back up, but there is also a risk if we don't open back up."

To minimize the risks and to try to slow down skyrocketing unemployment rates, DeWine is continuing to stress social distancing and wearing a mask in public, as business sectors reopen.

"Those two things, if we all do those and if we all do those consistently, we're not going to have a spike back up," DeWine said. "It's going to spread some, but it's not going to spread so that it's going to be totally out of control."

Shifting to the Fall, countless people have asked what the initial plans regarding schools are. DeWine says superintendents he's talked to are planning to reopen.

"I know people would like a green light, just say, 'hey, we're going to move forward,' but we don't know where we are going to be in August. We don't know what the situation is going to be. Our plan is to have school back in session in August, but we don't know exactly where this virus is going to be and again, what we all do, all of us 11.7 million Ohioans... in the next several months is going to determine what kind of shape we're in as far as being able to reopen schools in the Fall."

As far as entertainment goes, venues have been given the green light to open, but guidelines have yet to be determined for fairs, leaving the status of the ever-popular Canfield Fair, still up in the air.

"Well, everybody loves the Canfield Fair," DeWine said. "It's a wonderful, wonderful fair. I had a discussion with some board members the other day on the phone about it and look, I don't think we know where we're going to be. Fairs present a unique challenge."

Another challenge is nursing homes. Fifty percent of the state's deaths related to COVID-19 have been in nursing homes. DeWine says they're trying to get the best advice on when people can once again visit their loved ones.

"Next week, we're going to start with the Ohio National Guard. [They're] going to go out and we're going to get assistance from hospitals as well, and really start testing people in nursing homes."

The full, 15-minute interview with Governor DeWine can be found here, and on the 21 News app.