Kent State University student Regan Raeth, of Hudson, Ohio, having her COVID-19 vaccination administered by Kent State nurse Kristen Barath in Kent, Ohio.......AP photo

Ohio has experienced a 76 percent increase in new COVID-19 cases this month, with today not yet counted, compared with the number in June.

June had the fewest COVID-19 cases of any full month since the start of the pandemic with 9,390.

As of Friday, July had 16,484 cases for the month.

This month already has exceeded the next two lowest months — April 2020 with 15,828 reported cases and June 2020 with 16,276 cases. It needs only 1,003 cases reported today to end with more than the fourth-lowest month, May 2020 with 17,486 cases.

It’s had more than 1,100 reported cases daily since Tuesday.

The first COVID-19 case in Ohio was reported March 9, 2020, and that month had 2,199 cases. As the first case was reported nine days into March 2020, it’s not considered a full month in the count.

The number of reported cases for a month in Ohio peaked in December 2020 at 279,317 and was as high as 54,746 this past April.

What health officials say is concerning about this month is, during the first 15 days of July, the state had 4,464 reported COVID-19 cases, about 298 a day.

Largely because of the delta variant among the unvaccinated, the number of cases between July 16 and Friday was 12,019, more than 801 a day,

More cases were reported in the last 15 days than the entire month of June.

COVID-19 DATA

The 1,183 new COVID-19 cases reported Friday is up from the daily average of 670 for the past 21 days, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Three weeks ago, Ohio was averaging about 260 cases a day.

The state had a total of 1,127,808 COVID-19 cases as of Friday with 1,091,497 presumed recovered and 20,492 deaths.

The ODH usually provides death information on Tuesdays and Fridays.

There were only two COVID-19 deaths reported in Ohio since Tuesday including one in Trumbull County.

Mahoning County had 22,783 total COVID-19 cases as of Friday with 21,917 presumed recovered and 613 deaths, according to the ODH.

Trumbull County had 16,863 total COVID-19 cases as of Friday with 16,127 presumed recovered and 493 deaths.

Columbiana County had 9,240 total COVID-19 cases as of Friday with 8,891 presumed recovered and 236 deaths.

VACCINATIONS

There were 5,755,714 people, 49.24 percent of the state’s population, who had at least started getting inoculated as of 6 a.m. Friday, including 10,703 in the previous 24 hours, according to the ODH.

In Mahoning County, 47.76 percent of the population (109,217 people) had received at least one dose with 45.48 percent of the population in Trumbull County (90,040 people) and 38.45 percent in Columbiana County (39,174 people) as of 6 a.m. Friday, according to the ODH.

There were 5,380,718 people, 46.03 percent of the state’s population, who finished the vaccinations as of 6 a.m. Friday, including 6,385 in the prior 24 hours.

In Mahoning County, 44.57 percent of the population (101,913 people) had completed the process and 42.16 percent of the population in Trumbull (83,474 people) and 36.17 percent of the population in Columbiana (36,854 people) had as of 6 a.m. Friday.

The Trumbull County Combined Health District will have open COVID-19 vaccine clinics from 9 to 11:30 a.m. and 1 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at its office, 176 Chestnut Ave. NE in Warren, as well as from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday and 1 to 3 p.m. next Saturday at the former Lane Bryant space at the Eastwood Mall in Niles.

The district is offering $100 Eastwood Mall gift cards to anyone receiving the vaccine.

dskolnick@vindy.com