Protesters chanted, including one that said, "O-H-I-O. Acton's got to go!"
DeWine said the protesters have a First Amendment right to say what they want but his job is to communicate honestly and candidly to Ohio.
"I will guarantee you we're not going to keep these orders on one day longer than we have to," he said. "What I'm asking Ohioans to do is hang in there. All the evidence that we have indicates if we don't hang in there, if we don't continue to do what we're doing, it's going to cost a lot of lives and it's going delay our ability to economically recover."
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The protesters also had signs that said they don’t consent to social distancing orders. One sign read, “Social distancing or social conditioning?” and another, “Ohio dies when government lies!”
The demonstrators were not standing six feet apart. Some were wearing Guy Fawkes masks and others patriotic bandannas to cover their faces.
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Dr. Amy Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health, addressed some of the group's concerns in her remarks, saying she understands people are fearful and adding Ohio is working on a recovery plan to get back to business.
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