WATCH: 1-on-1 with Governor Mike DeWine on COVID-19 & the election
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH)-- Ohio Governor Mike DeWine remained steadfast Wednesday that Ohioans will get COVID-19 numbers under control with the mandates and precautions already in place in the state.
About an hour after after the Ohio Department of Health reported more than 4,000 additional cases, we asked the governor how he expects the case number trajectory to change if people's behavior is not changing as has been demonstrated by the steady increase in reported cases and growing positivity rate in Ohio.
"I think we're starting to see some change," DeWine countered. "I think as this virus really hits the rural areas, people are now starting to know someone who's had [COVID-19] or has it. [They're] seeing the tragedy of death, and I think it is starting to come home to people. But we have to pick our pace up. We gotta get 90-95% mask compliance."
The increases in cases is not due to an increase in testing. The governor said the positivity rate has gone from 2.5% to 8% in the past four weeks.
We also spoke to the governor about the election. DeWine said as the co-chair of President Donald Trump's campaign in Ohio, he was pleased to see the president win the state by such a large margin Tuesday night.
As of Wednesday afternoon, neither former Vice President Joe Biden nor Trump has secured the 270 electoral college votes to be declared the winner of the 2020 race, but Trump declared victory early Wednesday morning in a speech and throughout the day Wednesday, suggested voter fraud and election stealing by some key states.
When asked about the president's tweeting this to his millions of followers, DeWine said: "The votes are still getting counted. They're going to continue to get counted. We all just need to sit back, watch it, it's going to happen, and if there's some irregularity then each side has the opportunity to go into a court, go into a courthouse, file an action, the courts will decide it if that's what has to happen."
We have a process in place. It works.
Gov. Mike DeWine on the 2020 Presidential Election