A pharmacist prepares a syringe with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a COVID-19 vaccination site at NYC Health + Hospitals Metropolitan. ...AP

The number of COVID-19 cases in Ohio keeps increasing even though more are getting vaccinated for the virus.

The issue is new variants of the virus are becoming more prominent and they are “more contagious and more deadly,” said Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, Ohio Department of Health chief medical officer.

The ODH reported 1,934 new COVID-19 cases Monday in the state, up from the daily average of 1,914 cases during the past 21 days. That average was 1,590 just two weeks ago.

Since then only two days have been under the 21-day average.

The state had a total of 1,041,389 COVID-19 cases as of Monday with 983,750 presumed recovered.

The ODH provides death information only on Tuesday and Friday. There were 18,827 total COVID-19 deaths in the state as of Friday.

Mahoning County had 20,699 total COVID-19 cases as of Monday with 19,389 presumed recovered and 581 deaths, according to the ODH. It has the 11th-most cases and eighth-most deaths among Ohio’s 88 counties.

Trumbull County had 15,443 total COVID-19 cases as of Monday with 14,358 presumed recovered and 458 deaths. It has the 17th-most cases and 11th-most deaths in Ohio.

Columbiana County had 8,500 total COVID-19 cases as of Monday with 8,080 presumed recovered and 225 deaths. Columbiana has the 27th-most cases and 20th-most deaths among Ohio’s counties.

VACCINATIONS

There were 4,122,416 people, 35.27 percent of the state’s population, who had at least started the vaccination process as of 6 a.m. Monday, including 18,279 in the previous 24 hours. The number of vaccinations given in Ohio on Sundays are typically the lowest of any day.

In Mahoning County, 34.36 percent of the population (83,252 people) had received at least one dose with 34.36 percent of the population in Trumbull County (68,019 people) and 29.43 percent in Columbiana County (29,980 people) as of 6 a.m. Monday, according to the ODH.

There were 2,644,249 people, 22.62 percent of the state’s population, who finished the vaccinations as of 6 a.m. Monday, including 28,379 in the previous 24 hours.

In Mahoning County, 24.8 percent of the population (56,708 people) had completed the process while 22.64 percent of the population in Trumbull (44,825 people) and 20.78 percent of the population in Columbiana (21,170 people) had as of 6 a.m. Monday.

dskolnick@vindy.com