The Ohio Department of Health reported a one-day increase of 1,150 COVID-19 cases statewide on Thursday, bringing the total to 61,331 since the coronavirus pandemic began.

The state also added 15 deaths and 81 hospitalizations, bringing those totals to 3,006 and 8,570, respectively.

At his press conference on Thursday, Gov. Mike DeWine discussed guidance for how Ohio’s 167 colleges and universities can open this fall. He said money being sought from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act will provide $200 million to higher education and $100 million to K-12 institutions to meet their needs for providing student and staff safety.

DeWine spoke of the new color-coded system revealed last week, showing the extent of community spread in the state:

• Alert Level 1 (yellow) — Counties meet one or zero indicators;

• Alert Level 2 (orange) — Counties meet 2 or 3 indicators;

• Alert Level 3 (red) — Counties meet 4 or 5 indicators;

• Alert Level 4 (purple) — Counties meet 6 or 7 indicators. No counties are under this level, but Hamilton and Butler counties are approaching this phase.

TRUMBULL COUNTY

Trumbull County is one of 11 counties statewide that remains at Level 3. When the new color-coded alerts were announced last week, seven counties were in that phase: Trumbull, Butler, Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Huron and Montgomery. On Thursday, Clairmont, Fairfield, Lorain, Pickaway and Summit counties were moved into Level 3, but Huron was downgraded to Level 2.

DeWine announced a mask requirement for counties in Level 3, which went into effect Wednesday evening.

“Wearing masks will help us get through this. This is about Ohioans controlling our future. We should not live our lives in fear, but what we do in the next 30 days will help determine what will happen next month to get the kids back in school, have the Friday night football games and what else we will be able to do this fall,” DeWine said.

DeWine said Trumbull County has seen an increase of COVID-19 cases in the past three weeks with 68 cases per 1,000 residents and cases doubling from eight to 17 per day. He said cases were increasing at long-term care facilities and apartment complexes.

On Thursday, Trumbull County reported three new deaths, bringing the total to 80, and saw an increase of 16 cases, bringing the total number of cases to 1,032. Fifty-six people are in quarantine and being monitored. Warren has 49 in quarantine, according to data provided by the Trumbull County Combined Health District.

DeWine said in the past week, 18 counties moved up from Level 1 to Level 2. Franklin County no longer is on the watch list for Level 4 because of a decrease in hospital admissions.

STAYING SAFE

Residents are advised to avoid mass gatherings, social distance and wear masks at all indoor and outdoor areas where a 6-foot minimum distance from others can’t be maintained.

“We will do this each week to keep people informed of what is taking place in their county,” DeWine said.

Lt. Governor Jon Husted said more information will be released Wednesday on sporting events.

He said a campaign, “I Want a Season,” has been launched to encourage athletes, coaches and others to follow mask-wearing and social-distancing guidelines in order to play this fall.

DeWine announced the creation of the Ohio Public Health Advisory System last week to provide local health departments, community leaders and the public with data and information on the severity of the COVID-19 spread in each county. Each level is calculated with data gathered on seven public health indicators.

Overall, the Valley has posted 379 COVID-19 deaths: 239 in Mahoning, 80 in Trumbull and 60 in Columbiana. In Columbiana on Thursday, cases increased from1,309 to 1,336.

Mahoning has the fourth-most deaths among Ohio’s 88 counties, while Trumbull has the eighth-most and Columbiana has the 10th-most.

PLASMA DONATION

During Thursday’s press conference, Husted encouraged Ohioans who have recovered from COVID-19 for at least two weeks to consider donating plasma.

“Convalescent plasma, which is plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients, is rich in antibodies that could possibly attack the virus that causes COVID-19,” Husted said.

“Although the treatment of COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma remains in the investigation stage, it shows promise to lessen the severity or shorten the length of COVID-19 and is something that could potentially save lives in our continual fight against the coronavirus.”

For more information or to sign up to donate, visit redcrossblood.org/plasma4covid or contact a local blood donor or plasma collection center.