The curfew expired at noon Thursday and will not be renewed, as hospitalizations caused by COVID-19 continue to decrease in the state.

Numbers stayed below the goal of fewer than 2,500 people with COVID-19 being treated in hospitals each day during a weeklong period.

Gov. Mike DeWine said the state “really tamped down the fire in nursing homes,” which contributed to a reduction in the state’s daily hospitalized population.

On Thursday, 1,862 people with COVID-19 were being treated in Ohio hospitals; on Feb. 4, 2,251; and on Jan. 29, 2,705, according to Ohio Department of Health data.

Because about half of all hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 occur in people in long-term, shared living facilities like nursing homes, reducing the frequency of cases in nursing homes was key to reducing hospitalizations, DeWine said.

The cases in nursing homes in the state are going down “dramatically,” DeWine said.

During the week of Nov. 29, long-term care facilities had 2,697 cases; but, during the week of Jan. 17, there were 612, DeWine said.

“That is a very very significant drop — a 77 percent drop,” DeWine said. “We’re very, very happy with that. That is a very good thing.”

More people in the facilities are vaccinated, contributing to the reduction, DeWine said.

DeWine said the curfew was helpful in reducing the hours of potential contact between people, helping to reduce the spread of the virus.

DEATHS

Because of an error in reconciliation of death data at the Ohio Department of Health, the state will be adding numerous, older, previously uncounted deaths to the totals over the next few days. Although the figures will indicate more new deaths on the day the figures are reported, the deaths date back months and will be added to totals for the correct date of death, state officials said.

The number of deaths reported Thursday in the state is 721, but DeWine said about 650 are due to the reconciliation problem, leaving 71 newly reported deaths Thursday.

Stephanie McCloud, director of the Ohio Department of Health, said an administrative investigation is being carried out to see why the data was not reconciled properly. She said she first noticed the problem herself and since has changed leadership in the department responsible for the error. The problem involved data coming from two different entry points, McCloud said. The problem has been experienced in other states, too, she said.

Efforts are being made to make the system more accurate going forward, McCloud said.

COVID-19 by the numbers

The number of cases, changes in cases and deaths in counties in the region and statewide as of Thursday:

County Cases Change since Change since Deaths

yesterday last week

Trumbull 13,711 +47 +271 351

Mahoning 18,713 +55 +398 379

Columbiana 7,835 +25 +142 134

Ohio 931,437 +2,806 +20,590 12,577

SOURCE: Ohio Department of Health