Numbers on coronavirus infections in some states may appear to be relatively low, but they don't reflect what is really happening because most places don't have the testing that is needed, and shutdowns may be necessary through at least July, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Monday.
"All the scientific evidence that we see, all the modeling that we see indicates that it is here," DeWine told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "It is expanding. You know, one model shows this doubling every three or four days, the number of people who are infected. We don't have the testing we need. Most states don't have the testing, so you're not getting the real numbers. We know it is growing. It just keeps growing faster and faster and faster. So that's -- it's coming right at us."
That means that people must continue with social distancing "if we're going to at all make it through this thing," said the governor.
Meanwhile, DeWine said he believes the shutdowns will continue on until well in the summer months.
"My son, our son, runs a minor league baseball team in Asheville, N.C.," said DeWine. "He said, 'when are we playing?' I said, 'if we are playing by July, we'll be lucky.'"
DeWine said he has been fortunate to have a "great director of health" in Amy Acton, and he listens to her and his panel, but he admitted that the decisions he made early on were not easy.
"It's tough, but we made the decision, we have to first keep everybody alive," said DeWine. "We have to first do everything we can to lessen the damage. It doesn't, frankly, do anything if your health care system blows up. We're struggling to do that now. In Ohio and other states, we're in a race."
DeWine said in his state, it's believed hospital capacity will need to be increased by two to maybe three times, and officials are in the process of doing that.
"We're trying to hold this thing back a little bit and slow it down," said DeWine.