With five more reported COVID-19 fatalities in the Mahoning Valley, the three counties have 24 total deaths from the virus.

That’s 1 in 4 COVID-19 deaths in Ohio as of Friday.

The Ohio Department of Health reported at least 91 confirmed deaths in the state Friday, up from 81 a day earlier.

The state listed three deaths as of Friday in Columbiana County. But that county’s health district said Friday there were five deaths there, including three in the past day. The county had two confirmed COVID-19 deaths prior to Friday.

Also, there was one new confirmed COVID-19 death in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, according to the state’s Friday report.

Mahoning had 12 confirmed virus deaths and Trumbull had seven as of Friday.

“I know they’re being very hard hit there,” Dr. Amy Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health, said of the Valley.

Acton also is a Youngstown State University graduate. She wore a YSU pin while Gov. Mike DeWine wore a YSU tie at Friday’s news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mahoning is second in total deaths among all 88 counties in Ohio with Cuyahoga, which has more than five times the population of Mahoning, in first with 13 confirmed deaths.

Trumbull is tied for fourth-most deaths with Summit among counties in Ohio, while Columbiana is tied for the sixth-most deaths with Franklin.

Summit has about three times the population of Trumbull while Franklin has about 13 times the population of Columbiana. Columbiana is the 26th-most populous county in the state, while Franklin has the most residents in Ohio.

The new deaths reported by the state include a Mahoning County man in his 70s who died Wednesday, a Trumbull County woman in her 50s who died Wednesday, and a Columbiana County man in his 50s who died Thursday, according to Ohio Department of Health data.

ELKTON INMATES

The Columbiana County Health District said the deaths in that county are all men between the ages of 53 and 76 and included inmates at the federal prison in Elkton.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons reported Thursday that Woodrow Taylor, a 53-year-old inmate at the Elkton federal prison in Columbiana County, likely died because of the novel coronavirus.

The bureau also reported Friday that Margarito Garcia-Fragoso, a 65-year-old Elkton prisoner, died Thursday of the virus.

ZIP CODES

Mahoning had 203 confirmed cases Friday — the fifth-most of any county in Ohio — with 97 hospitalized, which is the second-most for an Ohio county. It’s the 12th-most populous county in the state.

It has the most COVID-19 fatalities and cases per capita in the state.

Trumbull had 75 confirmed novel coronavirus cases Friday — the ninth-most of any county in Ohio — with 34 hospitalized, the seventh-most for an Ohio county. It’s the 15th-most populous county in Ohio.

None of the Valley counties have provided any data on the communities or ZIP codes of those who have the virus or died from it.

Acton said state officials are “in conversations about how we can get this data to you.”

She added: “We’ve been asked if we could put out ZIP code-level data on our website. This data is helpful, but it’s not helpful. ZIP code tells you some things, but not everything. What we are telling you are cases of people who got tested, and the majority of people are not tested so a hot-spot might not be a hot-spot. We have to be careful how we interpret data.”

There were 3,312 confirmed cases of the virus in the state Friday, up from 2,902 Thursday, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

The 410 new cases was the largest day-to-day increase in the state during the pandemic. The state’s first cases were reported March 9 and the first death was March 19.

DAILY CASES

The previous highest increase was 355 from Wednesday to Thursday and 348 from Tuesday to Wednesday, meaning more cases are being confirmed daily despite Acton’s orders for people to stay at home — with exceptions — and the closing of school buildings. Both orders were extended this week to May 1.

Acton has said the orders have reduced the spread, but the virus won’t peak in the state until between mid-April and mid-May.

Statewide, 895 people were hospitalized as of Friday because of COVID-19, up from 802 Thursday.

Also, there were 288 people in intensive-care units Friday, up from 260 a day earlier.

About 27 percent of those with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are hospitalized and about 8.7 percent are in the ICU.

On Friday, DeWine said he sent letters to judges around the state asking them to consider releasing 38 non-violent prisoners early: 23 are women who are pregnant or had children behind bars and 15 are inmates over the age of 60 who have 60 days or less left in their sentences. The decision, DeWine said, is up to the judges. It’s an effort to help reduce vulnerable people from getting the virus, he said.

The state’s prison population is about 49,000, he said.

DeWine also said The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center has partnered with the Ohio Department of Health to help increase the availability of supplies needed to test people for the virus.

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said Battelle, a Columbus company, and JobsOhio are providing free N95 mask sanitizing for hospitals for the next two weeks.