For the first time since March 28, no new COVID-19 deaths were reported in the Mahoning Valley on Thursday.

Even so, Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties still rank among the state’s leaders in COVID-19 deaths, cases and hospitalizations.

Overall, there are 42 novel coronavirus deaths in the three counties with 28 in Mahoning — the most of any county in Ohio — eight in Trumbull and six in Columbiana counties.

Trumbull is tied for the ninth-most deaths among counties while Columbiana ranks 12th highest in the state.

Though the three counties make up only 4.5 percent of the state’s population, the Valley accounted for 19.7 percent of the COVID-19 deaths in Ohio as of Thursday.

This came a day after 10 new Valley deaths were reported from the virus.

In Mahoning County, only one of those nine reported deaths happened Tuesday with the others occurring in the past week.

The Columbiana fatality was a man in his 60s who died last Thursday in another state. It wasn’t confirmed until his case was officially transferred, according to that county’s health district.

Reporting is based on when death certificates are filed, often causing a lag.

As of Thursday, there were 337 COVID-19 cases and 149 hospitalizations in Mahoning County, up from 305 and 138, respectively, a day earlier.

Mahoning is fifth in total cases and third in hospitalizations despite being the 12th-most populous county in the state. It’s also first per capita in both categories in Ohio.

There were 137 cases as of Thursday in Trumbull County, up from 129 on Wednesday. Hospitalizations remained unchanged at 65.

Trumbull is ninth in total COVID-19 cases and seventh in hospitalizations even though it’s the 15th-most populous county in Ohio.

Columbiana County had 82 cases and 52 hospitalizations Thursday, up from 71 and 47, respectively, Wednesday. Of that county’s cases, 10 are inmates and nine are employees at the Elkton federal prison, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Three of the county’s six fatalities were inmates.

Columbiana is 17th in total cases and eighth in hospitalizations despite it being the 26th-most populous county.

Health officials with the three counties and with the state won’t disclose the hometowns or ZIP codes of those who have died from or contracted the virus. The Mahoning County Public Health department say 43 percent of COVID-19 fatalities are long-term care residents and all but one had underlying health conditions.

STATE FIGURES

There were at least 213 confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the state Thursday, up from 193 Wednesday.

There were 5,512 confirmed cases of the virus in Ohio as of Thursday, up from 5,148 Wednesday.

Statewide, 1,612 people were hospitalized Thursday because of the virus, up from 1,495 Wednesday.

There were 497 people in intensive-care units Thursday, up from 472 a day earlier.

Gov. Mike DeWine sounded an optimistic tone when he said: “Overall, things are turning out, so far, better for Ohio. The reason the modelers are changing is because of each and every one of you. It’s what you have done. You’ve made a huge difference. I’ve said it before, it’s not about the orders we issue. It’s about what you do and don’t do. You’ve all been doing a bang-up job. The initial modelers, they didn’t think Ohio was going to do as good a job as we did. We did a lot better. That’s one reason why the model has changed so much.”

Dr. Amy Acton, director of the Ohio Department of Health, said: “The journey is like a mountain range. We’re reaching a peak. We’ll be seeing more deaths. We will escort you carefully to recovery, but we must do it responsibly.”

Continuing with the mountain analogy, Acton said: “It is an arduous climb up this mountain and we have done this together. But the descent is challenging too. Every move we’re making is based on the best science and we will not leave you as we get you through this journey.”

Over the past five days, the state is averaging 22 deaths a day, 355 daily cases, 121 hospitalizations a day and 34 people in the ICU a day.

“We are working just as hard on how we come back from this as we were when we focused on the stay-at-home order,” DeWine said. “The only way we are going to be able to move forward is, we all continue to do what we’re doing.”

He added: “But the things we are seeing are still very encouraging. We’re optimistic.”

The state had tested 55,958 people, Acton said, but Ohio is “still struggling with the lack of testing.”

She also pointed out that the state is “seeing much younger people being admitted to the ICU.”

Also Thursday, the Mahoning County Public Health department said the newly-formed state dispute resolution commission ruled that dog groomers and CBD businesses are nonessential and must close by 4 p.m. today.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com