The state is again lowering the eligibility age for those wanting to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The age is being reduced to at least 50 on Thursday, exactly one week after the age was reduced from 65 to 60.

“The fact is, age is the largest indicator” of COVID-19 fatalities, Gov. Mike DeWine said Monday in announcing the age eligibility reduction.

About 97 to 98 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the state are those at least 50 years old, he said.

About 1.2 million Ohioans are between 50 and 59 years old, he said.

Also eligible beginning Thursday are those with type 2 diabetes and end-state renal disease under the age of 50, about 172,000 and 25,000 people, respectively, in Ohio, DeWine said.

The state will continue to evaluate other groups, he said.

The governor also announced Monday

that the state’s central COVID-19 vaccination scheduling website, getheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov, is live. Vaccinations in the state began Dec. 14.

“Ohioans can use the tool to determine if they are eligible to receive the vaccine, schedule appointments and receive updates and reminders,” DeWine said. “As of (Monday), there were thousands of appointments available through the tool. Our team continues to work with providers to load even more appointments into the system.”

He added: “We are requiring providers to either schedule vaccines using this system or another electronic scheduling system that interfaces with this portal. We believe this will streamline the scheduling process, reduce data lags and provide real-time information on vaccination progress.”

The Trumbull County Combined Health District announced Monday that it will use the state scheduling system to register those for the vaccines. Those who don’t have access to a computer can call the district’s main line, 330-675-2489, for assistance in getting scheduled.

Most other local health districts and pharmacies that offer COVID-19 vaccinations are expected to use the state system.

Michael McGovern, managing director of ProgressOhio, a liberal activist organization, said: “Other states have had websites like this up and running for some time. Why has it taken Ohio so long? Despite having months to prepare, it is obvious that the DeWine administration had no unified plan for providing life-saving vaccines for Ohioans.”

The website cost the state at least $3.6 million. The Jan. 14 contract pays $3.6 million to Accenture, the company that created the website, for 2 million appointments. The cost increases once appointments exceed 2 million.

COVID-19 DATA

The Ohio Department of Health reported 1,254 new COVID-19 cases in the state Monday, down from the daily average of 1,831 for the past 21 days.

The state had a total of 979,725 COVID-19 cases with 927,244 presumed recovered as of Monday.

With a new policy on how it reports COVID-19 deaths, the ODH will provide that information only once or twice a week. COVID-19 fatalities in the state were 17,502 as of Friday, the last reporting date.

Mahoning County had 19,611 total COVID-19 cases as of Monday with 18,405 presumed recovered, according to the ODH. It had 551 deaths as of Friday.

The state reported Trumbull County had 14,453 total COVID-19 cases as of Monday with 13,475 presumed recovered. It had 424 COVID-19 fatalities as of Friday.

Columbiana County had 8,183 total COVID-19 cases as of Monday with 7,726 presumed recovered, according to the ODH. It had 210 COVID-19 deaths as of Friday.

All health orders related to the pandemic will be removed in Ohio once COVID-19 caseloads fall to at least 50 per 100,000 for two straight weeks.

The state was at 731 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 on Dec. 30, down to 445 on Feb. 3 and at 179.6 last week. The number is provided on Thursdays by the ODH.

For the state to get to 50 cases per 100,000 residents, it would have to average no more than 417 new COVID-19 cases per day for two weeks.

DeWine said Monday he expects the state to get to that number in about two months.

The last time the state was that low for a single-day was June 17 with 412 new cases reported.

The state reported 735 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, the least since Aug. 23 with 637 cases.

VACCINATIONS

The ODH reported 1,997,268 people, 17.09 percent of the state’s population, had received at least one dose of the vaccine as of 6 a.m. Monday, including 27,263 in the previous 24 hours.

Moderna and Pfizer vaccines require two doses while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which arrived this week in Ohio, requires one dose.

In Mahoning County, 19.93 percent of the population (45,584 people) had received at least one dose compared with 18.24 percent in Trumbull County (36,105 people) and 16.13 percent in Columbiana County (16,429 people) as of 6 a.m. Monday, according to the ODH.

There were 1,134,801 people, 9.71 percent of the state’s population, who finished the vaccine process as of 6 a.m. Monday, including 25,178 in the prior 24 hours.

In Mahoning County, 11.58 percent of the population (26,474 people) had completed the process while 9.79 percent of the population in Trumbull (19,388 people) and 8.94 percent of the population in Columbiana (9,106 people) had as of 6 a.m. Monday.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com