As daily virus case increases have settled into a fairly narrow and consistent range, Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday that "We must get people back to work." Yet he cautioned that the reopening will be cautious and still change everyday life.

Gov. Mike DeWine wants Ohio to gradually and carefully get back to work, with some companies and businesses likely to reopen on May 1 as the coronavirus pandemic flatlines.

"We are about to enter a new phase. ... We must get the Ohio economy moving again. We must get people back to work," DeWine said Thursday. "It must be done the right way."

He did not commit to allowing the stay-at-home order to expire as scheduled May 1, nor did he identify what specific virus precautions businesses might have to take.

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DeWine also did not say when K-12 schools — first closed March 17 and then shuttered through May 1 — would reopen to nearly 1.7 million students. "We’ll deal with the schools shortly," he said.

The governor’s administration is under increasing pressure from some Republican lawmakers and others to begin scaling back public health and social-distancing orders that have cratered Ohio’s economy.

"I fully understand it. I get it. People are paying consequences, people are losing their jobs," DeWine said of the 855,000 Ohioans who have lost their jobs following forced closures of nonessential businesses.

But the reopening will be cautious and change everyday life, DeWine said. "We don’t want to get back and then have a disaster, a huge spike in the number of people who have tested positive and in the hospital. That would be disastrous.

"We have an obligation ... to keep our employees safe and for businesses to keep their customers safe," the Republican said.

The governor noted daily virus-case increases have settled into a fairly narrow and consistent range and credited Ohioans’ enforced isolation with flattening the curve of cases and reducing a feared spike to a bump.

However, another near-80% increase in the number of virus cases sweeping state prisons and a fourth inmate death went unacknowledged by DeWine on Thursday during an abbreviated news conference.

DeWine said companies and businesses that can demonstrate they can safely reopen with virus precautions could start opening May 1 and recall employees.

Questions still to be answered: Will employers be required to take employees’ temperatures and ensure desks are 6 feet apart? Will restaurants have to remove tables to ensure social distancing? Will mass gatherings, such as sporting events, be permitted with the admission of smaller numbers of people?

What kind of widespread testing for the virus will be required — or even available — to accompany the reopening of Ohio? More than a month after the pandemic started, Ohio only has tested about 75,000 of its 11.7 million residents.

"I am an optimist and am confident that Ohioans will also live up to the challenge of doing things differently as we open back up, beginning on May 1," DeWine said.

In a statement, Ohio Chamber of Commerce President Andrew Doehrel said, "We are highly encouraged that today, Gov. DeWine answered the critical question on everyone’s mind: When will we get Ohio’s economy moving again?

"We know the COVID-19 crisis is not over, and that health and safety protocols are going to remain a fact of life for the foreseeable future," he said, adding businesses now have two weeks’ lead time to plan reopenings.

In a statement, Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, said of DeWine’s announcement, "It’s in line with what most states that did not see the purported surge in cases are doing. It’s time to get Ohioans back to what we do best, work hard and take care of our families."

DeWine made the open-up-Ohio announcement less than an hour before he and other governors spoke with President Donald Trump about federal reopening guidance. Trump pushed for reopenings by May 1 but told the governors: "You’re going to call your own shots," according to the New York Times.

The governor said he will continue to follow the science and the coronavirus case numbers in gradually reopening the state. "As we reopen up, we are going to be very, very careful."

State Health Director Dr. Amy Acton said, "We’re fighting hard every day for your well-being, your health, your lives and your livelihood, as well."

DeWine previously said the reopening of the state must be accompanied by measures such as the ongoing wearing of masks and businesses implementing plans to protect employees and customers from the virus.

He and Acton do not envision a full return to normalcy until a coronavirus vaccine is developed — which could take more than a year.

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted is working with business groups and experts to craft the recovery and reopening plan, DeWine said. Husted missed Thursday’s news conference while he worked to develop the back-to-work blueprint.

Also Thursday, an organization called the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law in Columbus is backing a lawsuit filed in U.S District Court by a bridal shop owner in Columbus against the state’s stay-at-home order.

Tanya Rutner Hartman, owner of Gilded Social LLC, is seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction, noting that Acton's orders deeming businesses like hers to be "nonessential" is a violation of due process.

Meanwhile, coronavirus cases increased for the second straight day in Ohio on Thursday, although below levels seen in recent weeks

The state reported 611 more confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday -- a nearly 29% increase from the 475 recorded the prior day -- to boost the overall caseload to 8,239. Acton said there would be variations -- "good days and bad days."

Another 27 confirmed deaths also were disclosed, increasing the pandemic’s fatality toll to 373.

Five-day averages through Wednesday had totaled 385 confirmed and probable cases and 29 deaths (with some occurring days or weeks ago).

There were 361 probable cases of COVID-19 and an additional 16 probable deaths.

Franklin County, with the second-most cases in Ohio, reported 110 additional infections, raising its total since March 9 to 1,212. The home to Columbus now only rests 119 cases behind Cuyahoga County’s leading 1,331.

Franklin County’s death toll remained at 20, which ranks eighth among the 88 counties.

Licking (four total) Delaware (three) and Fairfield (two) counties each reported one additional death on Thursday.

State officials have described a general plateau in new cases as "good news," but caution a long fight lies ahead to beat down the virus, which causes COVID-19, a potentially deadly infectious respiratory disease.

The stay-at-home order and its mandated business closures that have choked off Ohio’s economy were implemented March 23 and then extended through May 1 — two weeks from Friday.

DeWine and Acton previously raised the possibility that the stay-at-home order, restricting most Ohioans to only essential travel, could be extended unless coronavirus cases began a steady fall and remain low.

They credit enforced isolation with undercutting the virus’ spread and lessening demand for hospital beds while giving the health care system time to prepare for any larger influx of cases.

Increased testing has confirmed a spiral of coronavirus cases among state prison inmates, with the statewide number increasing by 79% on Thursday to 489, with 184 prison employees also infected.

Pickaway Correctional Institution, south of Columbus, had seen the worst outbreak, with its ill-inmate count jumping by 17 to 149 on Thursday and a fourth prisoner dying from suspected COVID-19.

Forty-eight Pickaway prison employees also have contracted the virus, leading DeWine to dispatch Ohio National Guard medics to replace health care workers affected by coronavirus.

However, Pickaway was surpassed Thursday when inmate infection numbers at Marion Correctional Institution more than doubled from 92 to 217 cases.

Most of the prison-system cases among workers (95) and the lone employee fatality stem also from the Marion Correctional Institution.

Cases exploded at the Franklin Medical Center, the inmate health-care center in Columbus. Prison officials reported positive tests of inmates increased from 13 to 78 on Thursday. Nineteen staff members also have contracted the virus.

Prisons-system spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said "aggressive testing" of all staff and inmates, even without symptoms, at Marion, Pickaway and the medical center increased the numbers.

DeWine announced Thursday that hundreds of nonviolent offenders within 90 days of their scheduled release likely will be freed early in coming weeks to help lessen overcrowding among the 48,000-plus inmates.

Critics portray the releases as a token effort in fighting coronavirus. In a tweet, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio wrote: "We need to release MORE than a couple hundred people in order to stop the spread of this deadly virus for Ohioans behind bars."

We now have two more sate prisoners who've died at Pickaway Correctional Institution as a (very likely) result of #COVID19. We need to release MORE than a couple hundred people in order to stop the spread of this deadly virus for Ohioans behind bars. @GovMikeDeWine star here: pic.twitter.com/DPDLa5aHWT

— ACLU of Ohio (@acluohio) April 15, 2020

A record 855,197 Ohioans have filed unemployment claims during the past four weeks amid forced business closures during the pandemic, representing the loss of 15% of the state’s jobs. The state’s benefits fund is projected to run out of money in June and requires a bailout from a federal loan, higher employer premiums or benefit reductions.

The broad-based Ohio Voter Rights Coalition wrote legislative leaders and Secretary of State Frank LaRose on Thursday to seek pandemic precautions for the Aug. 4 special election and Nov. 3 general election.

"Voters and poll workers should not ever have to choose between participating in democracy and risking their health and safety," the group wrote.

Every registered voter should receive a postage-paid absentee ballot to return in the mail without having to request a ballot, the coalition said. And multiple early voting centers should be opened in each county, while employing social distancing, for those who want to vote in person, it said.

Ohio’s primary election, scheduled for March 17 but postponed due to the pandemic, now is a mail-ballot-only affair with an April 28 deadline to return votes.

Dispatch Reporter Jim Woods contributed to this story.

rludlow@dispatch.com

@RandyLudlow