Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday denied rumors from fringe corners of the Internet that the state intends to create ‘FEMA camps,’ saying he has no intention of separating families.
“This comes in the category of crazy, ridiculous internet rumors,” he said during his Tuesday coronavirus briefing.
An Aug. 31 public health order, titled “Director’s Second Amended Order for Non-Congregant Sheltering to be utilized throughout Ohio,” was somehow interpreted to mean the state was creating the shelters.
From there, people online began to question whether the state will separate people from their children in Federal Emergency Management Agency shelters.
But DeWine countered the order has a history dating back to the beginning of the outbreak in Ohio, and is necessary to obtain federal funding for shelters for people, such as hospital workers, can stay in hotels if they don’t want to go home and put vulnerable family members at risk.
“Let me just say this is absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “It is not true. There is no intention to separate children.”
___
© 2020 The Plain Dealer
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
