The state is experiencing a recent increase in COVID-19 cases caused by the delta variant that could be resolved if more people got vaccinated, Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, the Ohio Department of Health’s chief medical officer, said.

“We’re seeing early indicators that cases and hospitalizations may have started rising again,” he said Wednesday.

It came on the same day as 407 new COVID-19 cases were reported, the second-most since 426 were reported on June 8. Only 579 on July 1 had more since then.

The number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 Ohioans has risen from 17.6 on July 7 to 22.9 Wednesday, Vanderhoff said. Also, daily COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen from 200 on July 9 to 264 on Wednesday, he said.

“Thanks to our vaccines, COVID-19 is now largely preventable and yet sadly since May 1, more than 600 Ohioans have died because of COVID-19,” Vanderhoff said. “That’s more than 600 too many.”

He added: “The simple fact is the COVID-19 vaccines can purely save lives, and they’re the key to bringing this pandemic under control.”

The pace of Ohioans getting vaccinated has considerably slowed in the past couple of months.

Vanderhoff said: “The reality is we have two Ohios: an Ohio that is vaccinated and protected on the one hand, and an Ohio that is unvaccinated and vulnerable to delta on the other.”

During a Friday visit in North Lima, Gov. Mike DeWine said a recent spike in COVID-19 cases, caused by the delta variant, was a great concern and that it was spreading throughout the state.

In May, the delta variant made up about 1.9 percent of all COVID-19 cases in Ohio, Vanderhoff said. That jumped to 15 percent for June 6 to 19, and should likely be more than double that when data becomes available for June 20 to July 3, Vanderhoff said.

DeWine said Friday that it was “clear by the end of July, the delta variant will be the dominant strain in the state of Ohio. It is much more contagious than what we’ve been dealing with in regards to this pandemic when it started.”

Vanderhoff said the delta variant is “a real threat to the unvaccinated,” and that 99.5 percent of those getting COVID-19 in the country are unvaccinated.

COVID-19 DATA

The 407 new cases reported Wednesday is up from the daily average of 264 for the past 21 days, according to the ODH.

The state had a total of 1,115,242 COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday with 1,087,538 presumed recovered.

The ODH usually provides death information on Tuesdays and Fridays. There were 20,411 total COVID-19 deaths as of Tuesday.

Mahoning County had 22,473 total COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday with 21,733 presumed recovered and 612 deaths, according to the ODH.

Trumbull County had 16,633 total COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday with 16,023 presumed recovered and 487 deaths.

Columbiana County had 9,072 total COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday with 8,809 presumed recovered and 236 deaths.

VACCINATIONS

There were 5,640,594 people, 48.26 percent of the state’s population, who had at least started getting inoculated as of 6 a.m. Wednesday, including 5,584 in the previous 24 hours, according to the ODH.

In Mahoning County, 46.87 percent of the population (107,192 people) had received at least one dose with 44.56 percent of the population in Trumbull County (88,224 people) and 37.71 percent in Columbiana County (38,415 people) as of 6 a.m. Wednesday, according to the ODH.

There were 5,283,364 people, 45.2 percent of the state’s population,who finished the vaccinations as of 6 a.m. Wednesday, including 6,384 in the prior 24 hours.

In Mahoning County, 43.49 percent of the population (99,447 people) had completed the process while 40.98 percent of the population in Trumbull (81,136 people) and 35.61 percent of the population in Columbiana (36,279 people) had as of 6 a.m. Wednesday.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com

dskolnick@vindy.com