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COVID-19 deaths at lowest point

The number of reported COVID-19 deaths in the Mahoning Valley this week was the lowest since the week of April 5 to 11 — six weeks ago.

Not including today, there were 25 reported deaths in the three counties this week: 17 in Mahoning County, seven in Columbiana County and one in Trumbull County.

In comparison, there were 37 reported fatalities last week and 53 the week prior.

And it comes as the state continues to permit numerous businesses to reopen with required safety protocols in place during the pandemic.

This week’s number is also lower than the 31 reported fatalities during both the weeks of April 26 and April 19. There were 32 reported fatalities during the week of April 12.

You have to go back to the weeks of April 5 and March 29 to find lower reported COVID-19 fatalities. There were 20 in both of those weeks. There were five COVID-19 deaths in the area before March 29.

Oftentimes, reported deaths lag behind actual deaths because death notifications can be delayed by several weeks.

On Friday, there was one reported death in Mahoning County and none in either Trumbull or Columbiana counties.

As of Friday, the three counties reported 254 COVID-19 overall deaths: 163 in Mahoning, 40 in Trumbull and 51 in Columbiana.

There were 1,872 COVID-19 deaths in the state as of Friday, up from 1,836 Thursday.

The three Valley counties have had 13.6 percent of the state’s fatalities even though they make up 4.5 percent of Ohio’s population. But in early April, more than one in every four COVID-19 fatalities in Ohio were in the three counties.

Once a leader in novel coronavirus fatalities in Ohio, Trumbull has reported nine deaths since May 1.

It has the 13th-most deaths among Ohio’s 88 counties. A month ago, it was ninth.

Mahoning has the fourth-most fatalities in the state. Of its 163 COVID-19 fatalities, 81 were reported since May 1.

Columbiana has the 10th-most fatalities. Of its 51 deaths, 27 were reported this month.

There were 30,794 cases of the virus in Ohio Friday, up from 30,167 Thursday.

There were 1,310 cases in Mahoning County Friday, up 20 from 1,290 Thursday.

Mahoning has had the seventh-most cases among Ohio counties daily since April 20.

There were 510 cases Friday in Trumbull County, up from 502 Thursday.

Trumbull has had the 13th-most cases among counties in the state since May 11. It has slowly fallen from 11th place on April 17.

But statistics from the Trumbull County Combined Health District show that the 21 cases reported Thursday were the most for any single day since the pandemic began. The previous high was 19 on April 8.

In Columbiana County, there were 477 cases Friday, up 10 from 467 a day earlier.

It has had the 14th-most cases in Ohio daily since April 26 except on May 7 and 8 when it had the 13th-most cases.

The state doesn’t keep track of how many patients recover and the Mahoning County Health District hasn’t provided that information.

The Trumbull County Combined Health District reported Friday that not including the 40 fatalities, of the 470 other cases, 407 have successfully completed their quarantines.

The Columbiana County Health District reported that not including the 51 fatalities, of the 426 other cases in the county, 386 have recovered.

A recovered patient is someone who has gone 10 days since their last positive test, or someone who has gone three days fever free without the use of fever-reducing medication and has considerable improvement of respiratory function.

Statewide, 5,379 people spent time in a hospital as of Friday because of the virus, up from 5,295 Thursday.

The number of hospitalizations in the Valley because of COVID-19 hasn’t grown much.

Mahoning County had 287 Friday compared to 257 on May 8, two weeks earlier.

Trumbull County had 172 hospitalizations Friday compared to 157 on May 8, while Columbiana County had 129 hospitalizations as of Friday compared to 113 on May 8.

Still, the three counties were among the top counties in COVID-19 hospitalizations with Mahoning being sixth, Trumbull at seventh and Columbiana at 11th.

None of the health districts in the county list how many COVID-19 patients are currently in hospitals.

COVID-19 by the numbers

The number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths in counties in the region and statewide as of Friday:

County Cases Hospitalizations Deaths

Mahoning 1,310 287 163

Trumbull 510 172 40

Columbiana 477 129 51

Ohio 30,794 5,379 1,872

SOURCE: Ohio Department of Health

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