The number of new COVID-19 cases reported in the state went over 2,000 for the first time in nearly a week.

The Ohio Department of Health reported 2,022 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, after five straight days of new cases below 2,000.

The state had a total of 972,605 COVID-19 cases with 916,592 presumed recovered as of Wednesday.

With a new policy on how it reports COVID-19 deaths, the Ohio Department of Health will provide that information only once or twice per week. COVID-19 fatalities in the state were 16,750 as of Tuesday, the last reporting date.

Mahoning County had 19,509 total COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday, up 39 from Tuesday, with 18,212 presumed recovered, according to the ODH. It had 537 deaths as of Tuesday.

The state reported Trumbull County had 14,369 total COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday, up 32 from a day earlier, with 13,343 presumed recovered. It had 413 COVID-19 fatalities as of Tuesday.

Columbiana County had 8,151 total COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday, up 17 from Tuesday, with 7,636 presumed recovered, according to the ODH. It had 200 COVID-19 deaths as of Tuesday.

The ODH reported 1,759,459 people, 15.05 percent of the state’s population, had received at least the first of the two-dose vaccine as of 6 a.m. Wednesday, including 34,521 in the previous 24 hours.

In Mahoning County, 17.85 percent of the population (40,824 people) had received at least the first dose compared to 15.97 percent in Trumbull County (31,609 people) and 14.68 percent in Columbiana County (14,956 people) as of 6 a.m. Tuesday, according to the ODH.

DEATH REPORTING

The ODH is counting only “verified mortality” data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s electronic death registration system.

The state previously provided COVID-19 death numbers from reconciling two lists: one with initial deaths reported from hospitals, urgent care facilities and health districts, and the other from death certificates.

The change caused COVID-19 numbers to decline by 596 Tuesday.

The new method will take longer to verify COVID-19 as the cause of death, but will be more accurate, said Stephanie McCloud, ODH director.

The department will report COVID-19 fatalities once or twice a week now.

The decision came after the ODH disclosed Feb. 10 that it had underreported the number of COVID-19 deaths in the state by 4,275.

It had a single employee manually handle the death databases and that person became overwhelmed when the number of COVID-19 fatalities sharply increased during the final three months of 2020, McCloud said.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com