A new health order from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine will limit all remaining county fairs in the state for this year to junior fair events only.
DeWine said Tuesday that there are too many stories related to new COVID cases that point to county fairs, which until now have largely proceeded as normal. The governor said beginning this Friday, county fairs can only hold junior fair events such as livestock competitions, 4-H and other FFA competitions. Rides, grandstand events and games are will be prohibited.
This comes after more than a dozen recent COVID-19 cases were attributed by the Pickaway County Health Department to have likely come from the Pickaway County Fair, which was held in June.
The Pickaway Fair Board in a social media post on Tuesday, disputed the health department's report that attributed 19 Coronavirus cases to fair activity. In that post, the Senior Fair Board stated that according to Pickaway Public Health, there is no evidence the virus was contracted at or spread at the fair, and the fair was not the only place these people had visited in the time frame of the health department's contact tracing.
The Senior Fair Board said a meeting held Monday on the health department's report, uncovered inaccuracies and mistakes made by the health department in the reporting on its interpretation of the fair's operation.
The full post can be found on the Pickaway County Fair Facebook page.