COVID-19 cases in Ohio are holding steady at levels lower than they’ve been in about a month.

Thursday was the sixth consecutive day with fewer than 2,000 COVID-19 cases in the state.

“For the last few days finally the cases are going downward so that’s a piece of very good news,” Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday in Youngstown.

The last time the state had at least this many days in a row with fewer than 2,000 cases was March 19 to 25.

The 1,724 new COVID-19 cases Thursday was down from the daily average of 1,908 for the past 21 days, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

The state had a total of 1,060,119 COVID-19 cases as of Thursday with 1,002,936 presumed recovered.

The ODH provides death information only on Tuesdays and Fridays. There were 19,033 COVID-19 deaths in the state as of Tuesday.

Mahoning County had 21,057 total COVID-19 cases as of Thursday with 19,735 presumed recovered and 584 deaths, according to the ODH.

Trumbull County had 15,684 total COVID-19 cases as of Thursday with 14,661 presumed recovered and 461 deaths.

Columbiana County had 8,600 total COVID-19 cases as of Thursday with 8,158 presumed recovered and 226 deaths.

CASES PER 100,000 PEOPLE

The recent decline in the number of COVID-19 cases resulted in the first decline in cases per 100,000 people in Ohio in four weeks.

The number of cases per 100,000 in Ohio was 185.8 Thursday.

The number was 200 per 100,000 last Thursday, 183.7 per 100,000 the week prior, 167.1 per 100,000 April 1, 146.9 per 100,000 March 25 and 143.8 March 18.

DeWine announced March 4 that he would lift all health orders tied to the pandemic if the state got to at least 50 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 for two weeks. At the time, the number was 179.7 per 100,000.

To get to at least 50 COVID-19 cases, the state would have to average no more than 417 cases per day for a two-week period. Ohio hasn’t had that low of an average since last June.

But the state Legislature will be able to make decisions on health orders by late June because on March 24 it overrode DeWine’s veto that gives its members the authority to end states of emergency and public health orders. That law goes into effect 90 days after the veto override.

DeWine recently said he is considering changing from cases per 100,000 to number of vaccinations though he didn’t give specifics.

VACCINATIONS

There were 4,487,779 people, 38.39 percent of the state’s population, who at least had started the vaccination process as of 6 a.m. Thursday, including 41,009 in the previous 24 hours, according to the ODH.

During a Thursday visit to the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, DeWine said the state would cross 4.5 million that day. It likely will occur today.

In Mahoning County, 38.39 percent of the population (88,095 people) had received at least one dose with 36.63 percent of the population in Trumbull County (72,515 people) and 31.25 percent in Columbiana County (31,935 people) as of 6 a.m. Thursday, according to the ODH.

There were 3,304,000 people, 28.27 percent of the state’s population,who finished the vaccinations as of 6 a.m. Thursday, including 84,290 in the previous 24 hours.

In Mahoning County, 29.5 percent of the population (67,561people) had completed the process while 26.8 percent of the population in Trumbull (53,048 people) and 24.65 percent of the population in Columbiana (25,113 people) had as of 6 a.m. Thursday.

dskolnick@vindy.com