OP-ED: MIKE DEWINE SHOULD QUIT SCARING OHIOANS AND TRUST PARENTS INSTEAD

Cleveland, OH – Jim Renacci penned an op-ed in the Canton Repository highlighting Mike DeWine’s draconian lockdown during the pandemic last year and how he continues to use scare tactics in order to force Ohio families to comply with his overreaching rules.

Jim Renacci: Mike DeWine should quit scaring Ohioans and trust parents instead

The Canton Repository

By Jim Renacci

Last year, Gov. Mike DeWine overreacted in his response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Simply put, I would never have done many of the draconian things that DeWine did. No leader should ever lead with fear.

DeWine shut Ohio down too quickly and refused to open back up soon enough. He’s reacted more in line with Democratic governors like Andrew Cuomo of New York or Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan instead of Republican governors like Ron DeSantis of Florida and Kristi Noem of South Dakota.

Now, he is overreacting again. But because the Ohio General Assembly has tied his hands on mandates, he is using his bully pulpit in an attempt to strong arm and scare local school boards into requiring masks.

His health director has issued guidance to Ohio schools that would require students and staff who are exposed to COVID-19 to quarantine for at least seven days if they are unvaccinated or do not wear masks. If the students and teachers do wear masks and/or are vaccinated, then they will not be required to quarantine or can quarantine for a lesser period.

Enough is enough. It is long past time to end these fear tactics and trust Ohio parents instead. Ohio’s school children have suffered long enough and undergone enough psychological damage over the past year and a half.

No child should be forced to wear a mask eight hours a day by an out of touch elected official or appointed bureaucrat. Decisions as to whether to wear a mask or obtain a vaccination should be left to parents and parents alone. Parents should be trusted to make the best decisions for their children.