CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM, COLUMBUS, Ohio- Ohio Gov Mike DeWine plans to reopen Ohio when his stay-at-home order expires on May 1 he said Thursday during his weekly update, though he gave no specifics on how he will restart Ohio's economy, which he says will go into a recession unless Ohioans are allowed to go back to work.

Ohio has reported more than 8,239 confirmed coronavirus cases and 373 deaths.

DeWine vowed to fight hard to gradually bring Ohio's economy back and said that "that is our commitment to you."

His decision to lift his stay-at-home order when it expires early next month, a decision he said could change in spite of the deadly virus reaching its peak in Ohio and beginning to level off, follows protests at the statehouse demanding that the governor get businesses and people back to work, similar protests occurring across the nation, including in North Carolina and neighboring Kentucky and Michigan, Michigan of which follows New York and New Jersey as states with the most cases and deaths.

President Trump, a Republican like DeWine, and his political ally, announced Thursday that he supports reopening the nation on May 1, if not earlier in some states, and in phases, and that governors will retain the autonomy to decide how and when their respective states will reopen, some 43 states and Washington D.C. now under stay-at-home orders as unemployment claims in the past month have risen to an all time high of 22 million claims nationally.

And while federal guidelines have been issued by the president for reopening the economy in respective states utilizing a three- phase process, some governors say the guidelines are vague, and that questions still remain.

The president's foes and some experts say it is too soon and literally dangerous to reopen America right now, a decision complicated by a lack of coronavirus testing and testing resources, and inadequate contact tracing.

They say that reopening the economy is an effort by the president to shift his responsibilities to the states so he can blame governors for growing dissatisfaction on how his administration has handled the fallout from the virus.

Some states, data show, are slower at peaking, and leveling off, and it would not be wise for governors in this instance to reopen the states right away, pundits say.

The president faces a tough battle for reelection against presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in November, polls show, and Ohio is a pivotal state that he won in 2016 over then Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Just last week more than 158,000 people filed for initial unemployment in Ohio, some 855,000 altogether relative to the coronavirus outbreak, Ohio Lt. Gov Jon Husted saying more unemployment claims have been filed in the past month in Ohio than in the past two years.

DeWine announced on the eve of Ohio's scheduled March 17, 2020 primary election that he was closing the polls due to the coronavirus, the state legislature, with the governor's support, later rescheduling Ohio's primary deadline to April 28, a primary relegated to a mail-in only ballot election.

The governor's decision to close the polls in Ohio follow his previous orders to close K-12 schools, and to forbid dining inside restaurants, coupled with a host of other precautionary measures suggested by state officials and the Centers for Disease Control, including social distancing and the recommendations of avoiding gatherings of more than 10 people, staying home when sick, and getting tested if symptoms like fever and chills develop.