Trending
By DAVID SKOLNICK
A recent spike in COVID-19 cases, caused by the delta variant, is the cause of great concern, Gov. Mike DeWine said.
"This delta variant is spreading throughout Ohio," he said Friday in North Lima after signing a bill naming a bridge in honor of Don Manning, a state representative who died suddenly in March 2020.
State data from two weeks ago, DeWine said, showed the delta variant made up about 15 percent of Ohio's COVID-19 cases.
"It's clear by the end of July, the delta variant will be the dominant strain in the state of Ohio," he said. "It is much more contagious than what we've been dealing with in regards to this pandemic when it started so we've got people who are unvaccinated and we've got a delta variant that's really picking up steam in not only Ohio, but other states."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the delta strain made up more than half of the new COVID-19 cases between June 20 and July 3.
While the vaccination rate in the state hasn't moved much in the past couple of months, DeWine said statistics show that 99 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in Ohio since January were from people not fully vaccinated from the virus and hospitalizations were slightly lower.
"We know that if you're vaccinated, your odds of going to the hospital are very, very, very small," he said. "Your odds of dying are even smaller than that."
The 354 new cases reported Friday is up from the daily average of 248 for the past 21 days, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
For the third day in a row, Ohio reported more than 300 new COVID-19 cases.
The past three days with more than 300 daily cases reported in Ohio is the first time that's happened since June 22-24.
The state had a total of 1,113,737 COVID-19 cases as of Friday with 1,086,484 presumed recovered and 20,380 deaths.
The ODH usually provides death information on Tuesdays and Fridays. Because of the July 4 holiday, COVID-19 death numbers were delayed a day, until Wednesday.
There was an increase of 14 deaths since Wednesday.
Mahoning County had 22,459 total COVID-19 cases as of Friday with 21,716 presumed recovered and 611 deaths, according to the ODH.
Trumbull County had 16,617 total COVID-19 cases as of Friday with 16,005 presumed recovered and 486 deaths.
Columbiana County had 9,058 total COVID-19 cases as of Friday with 8,802 presumed recovered and 235 deaths.
CASES PER 100,000
Mahoning and Trumbull counties saw an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases and subsequently moved up on the list of counties in Ohio with the most cases per 100,000 residents.
The state, meanwhile, saw a small decline from 19.6 cases per 100,000 residents last week to 19.2 cases this week.
Mahoning spent six weeks in the top six counties for COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents before dropping two weeks ago to 18th. It declined even further last week to 34th, but with an increase in cases this week, it was 29th among the state's 88 counties.
Mahoning had 23.2 cases per 100,000 residents this week, an increase from 21 cases per 100,000 last week, according to ODH statistics.
The county had 26.7 cases per 100,000 two weeks ago. It had 39.4 cases three weeks ago for the sixth-highest rate and 66 cases per 100,000 four weeks ago for the fifth-highest.
Trumbull also saw an increase in cases this week. It went from 20.2 cases per 100,000 residents last week to 21.7 this week.
It moved up this week to 33rd in the state compared to 53rd last week.
It was 39th two weeks ago with 27.8 cases and 33rd three weeks ago with 27.8 cases. Before that, it spent four straight weeks in the top 15, including 14th four weeks ago with 54.6 cases.
Columbiana County experienced a significant drop this week.
It was down to 73rd in the state with 11.8 cases per 100,000 residents. It was 47th last week with 17.7 cases, 33rd two weeks ago with 21.6 cases and 48th four weeks ago with 24.5 cases.
The ODH measures cases per 100,000 residents to provide a fair comparison among counties because total case numbers would result in more-populous counties ranking higher.
The cases are for the two weeks between June 24 and Wednesday.
The state continues to see a decline in COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, although it was smaller than usual this week. That's likely because case numbers were low until three days ago.
The state was down to 19.2 cases this week from 19.6 two weeks ago. The state average three weeks ago was 26.8 and 39.1 cases four weeks ago.
dskolnick@vindy.com