Vax-a-Million prize winner is Marathon retiree

The winner of $1 million in Ohio's third Vax-a-Million drawing, Mark Cline of Richwood in Union County, is a Marathon Petroleum Corp. retiree who used to live and work in Findlay. "It was pretty surreal," Cline, 64, said of Gov. Mike DeWine showing up on his doorstep Wednesday. At a press conference with DeWine on Thursday morning, Cline said friends and family immediately reached out to offer congratulations. Cline noted that his wife elected not to enter the $1 million drawing, so he joked that the money is his. The couple had already been vaccinated before Vax-a-Million was announced and, when the announcement came, they wondered if they were eligible. When they found out they were, Cline's wife opted not to enter, preferring not to put her name out there publicly at press conferences. When DeWine told Cline the news, he said he told his wife that they had just won $1 million. Then he clarified, "No, I won a million dollars. You didn't register." He assured reporters Thursday, however, that he was only joking: "My money's her money," he said, adding that he felt "happy and blessed" to share the prize with her. Cline said he was "very fortunate" to have a good career at Marathon. He worked in Findlay for more than 20 years, first as an environmental and safety engineer for the Marathon Pipeline, then in learning and development, retiring in 2016 as project manager. Of Findlay, he said he "enjoyed living there. Great community." The couple moved to Richwood, "another great community," to be closer to family, including grandchildren. Cline made a point of talking not just about his winnings, but about the importance of getting vaccinated. He said he hopes everyone gets the vaccine. Getting his shot at the Union County Fairgrounds was "no big deal," he said. DeWine's office announced Wednesday night that Cline had won $1 million. Sara Afaneh, of Sheffield Lake in Lorain County, won the full-ride scholarship. Afaneh, 13, is going into eighth grade. She said she has thought about college, but hasn't started looking at specific schools yet. She has three siblings, including a 17-year-old sister who, their mother said, is "envious." Sara's mother, Summer Afaneh, is a nurse who said that, since she has seen the damage COVID-19 has done, there was no question she and her husband would get vaccinated. Getting her children vaccinated when their age group became eligible, too, seemed a "no-brainer." A total of 3,362,203 Ohio adults entered the drawing to win the $1 million prize, and 143,604 Ohioans ages 12-17 entered the drawing for a full college scholarship to a state university, including tuition, room and board, and books. This is an increase of 136,414 adult entries and 10,701 student entries from last week. Vaccinations lag as cases fall DeWine said the numbers of people getting newly vaccinated aren't growing as quickly as it had been, but the state is seeing increases in some of its rural counties. Among the examples he gave were Seneca and Wyandot counties. DeWine noted that the state reached the benchmark of 50 cases of the virus per 100,000 people in a two-week period on Saturday. As of Wednesday, the figure was 39.1 cases per 100,000 people. Hancock County has the state's third-lowest rate of virus cases. With six cases over the past two weeks and a county population of 75,783, Hancock County has an incidence rate of 7.9 cases per 100,000 people. Putnam County has the fourth-lowest rate, 8.9 cases per 100,000; and Wyandot County ranks sixth-lowest, with 13.8 cases per 100,000 people. Seneca County ranks ninth-lowest, with 14.5 cases per 100,000 people. Other neighboring counties' numbers include: Wood County, 16.8 cases per 100,000; Hardin County, 25.5 cases per 100,000; Henry County, 29.6 cases per 100,000; and Allen County, 50.8 cases per 100,000. The state continues to move forward, and hospitalizations and deaths have decreased. But "the threat of COVID is still out there," and the more Ohioans who get vaccinated, the better off we will all be, DeWine said. Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, chief medical officer of the Ohio Department of Health, said vaccines do appear to protect people against the more contagious Delta variant of the virus. This variant makes up more than 6% of infections in the United States, but the numbers are higher out west, Vanderhoff said. He said Ohio's numbers of the Delta variant are relatively low, but he expects that to change. Vaccines remain Ohioans' best protection, Vanderhoff said. DeWine said he is hearing a lot of questions about his stance on House Bill 248, which would weaken state vaccination laws. He said he remembers in his childhood how "polio struck fear — absolute terror ... in parents." Polio has been eradicated, and deaths from tetanus and whooping cough are "almost unheard of today." Vaccines have changed lives, DeWine said, and we may "forget where we were" and where we would be without vaccines. So, he said, he opposes HB 248. DeWine was asked by reporters at the press conference about former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci announcing Wednesday that he planned to challenge DeWine in the Republican primary. He said that, throughout his career, it has been "rare" that he hasn't had a primary opponent. He said he feels good about where the state is as it emerges from the pandemic. "Ohio is coming out strong," he said. Asked specifically to respond to Renacci's charge that DeWine had prioritized "fear over freedom" in his pandemic response, DeWine said he has always felt "protecting human life is essential," noting that Republicans talk a lot about protecting human life. And, he said, Ohio's ability to keep virus numbers down affects how the state can keep going economically. Arthurs: 419-427-8494