DeWine, Husted impressed by Cedar Point's reopening plan

SANDUSKY — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine had detailed discussions with Cedar Fair executives before setting a June 19 date for allowing amusement parks and water parks to reopen. DeWine announced Friday the state is allowing amusement parks such as Cedar Point, water parks such as Kalahari, casinos, racinos and outdoor theaters to reopen as part of his latest move to open up the economy. All of those businesses will be allowed to open on June 19. Specific open dates for Cedar Point and Cedar Fair's Kings Island property in southern Ohio will be announced soon, Cedar Fair CEO Richard Zimmerman said Friday. The governor and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said Cedar Point has impressively detailed plans on how the park will handle its reopening. Masks will be required both for patrons and employees and both Cedar Fair parks will open with a reduced number of guests. Temperatures will be taken for all patrons before they are allowed into the park. Customers will have to agree to follow the park's rules. The hiring of foreign students will be dramatically scaled back, if not eliminated. Cedar Point also promised to carry out testing on employees who live in company housing. "That was one of the things we worked with them on, access to private testing," Husted said. DeWine said he was concerned about the large number of people amusement parks attract but said Cedar Point's plans impressed him. "It was a well thought out plan. We felt they not only had a plan, but they had the ability and the willingness to carry that plan out," DeWine said. The rules governing amusement parks will be released publicly in a few days, Husted said. DeWine said he has visited Cedar Point with his children and was there with his grandchildren three years ago. The governor had announced the opening of other entertainment venues Thursday, such as movie theaters, but left out amusement parks and water parks, and in response, Cedar Fair and Kalahari both filed lawsuits. The governor said the court action had no effect on his Friday decision to make his announcement on the amusement parks. "They should have saved their money on lawyers. We have been focusing on this. I told them a week ago we would have an answer today, and that's what we did," he said. Also Friday, deaths in Erie County from COVID-19 rose to 19, up one from Thursday. Erie County had 180 cases as of Friday. As of Friday, Ohio had 37,758 cases and 2,335 deaths. The U.S. had 1,888,370 cases and 108,813 deaths, while the world had 6,711,318 cases and 393,600 deaths. DeWine also announced Friday he has asked the Ohio National Guard to work with the Department of Public Safety to make sure the guard won't have members who have ties to hate groups. The governor revealed the FBI is investigating one of the 100 Ohio National Guard members sent to Washington, D.C. The National Guard member was removed from the mission after allegations surfaced he expressed opinions in favor of white supremacy. DeWine said he supports free speech, but Ohio National Guard members "are sworn to protect all of us."