Almost as many new COVID-19 cases were reported Friday in Ohio as during the entire month of July.

The Ohio Department of Health reported 9,019 cases Friday, the first time the state exceeded 9,000 new cases since Jan. 8.

During all of July, 9,390 total COVID-19 cases reported.

The number of cases has increased significantly since late July largely caused by the delta variant among the unvaccinated, which spreads quickly, Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, ODH’s director, said.

In response to the national COVID-19 problem, President Joe Biden, a Democrat, is imposing vaccine requirements for about 100 million Americans.

Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said Friday: “I think the president made a mistake by announcing federal vaccine mandates. We should be focused on the science of preventing virus spread — the vaccine is our best tool to stop COVID — but people and business owners should make their own decisions about vaccination.”

The 9,019 new COVID-19 cases reported Friday is up from the daily average of 5,258 for the past 21 days, according to the ODH. That includes 346 cases in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties combined.

It comes a day after 7,897 cases were reported. The state has exceeded 5,000 daily cases in nine of the past 11 days.

Two months ago, the state was averaging about 260 cases a day.

The state had a total of 1,285,757 COVID-19 cases as of Friday with 1,159,265 presumed recovered and 21,154 deaths.

The ODH usually provides death information on Tuesdays and Fridays.

There were 134 more COVID-19 deaths since Tuesday, including one each in Mahoning and Columbiana counties.

Mahoning County had 25,344 total COVID-19 cases as of Friday, with 23,034 presumed recovered and 627 deaths.

Trumbull County had 18,674 total COVID-19 cases as of Friday, with 17,065 presumed recovered and 500 deaths.

Columbiana County had 10,738 total COVID-19 cases as of Friday, with 9,585 presumed recovered and 237 deaths.

VACCINATIONS

There were 6,158,621 people, 52.69 percent of the state’s population, who had at least started getting inoculated as of 6 a.m. Friday, including 10,314 in the previous 24 hours, according to the ODH.

In Mahoning County, 50.91 percent of the population (116,423 people) had received at least one dose while 48.65 percent of the population in Trumbull County (96,317 people) and 41.28 percent in Columbiana County (42,056 people) had as of 6 a.m. Friday, according to the ODH.

There were 5,694,547 people, 48.72 percent of the state’s population, who finished the vaccinations as of 6 a.m. Friday, including 9,254 in the prior 24 hours.

In Mahoning County, 47.08 percent of the population (107,653 people) had completed the process and 44.72 percent of the population in Trumbull (88,529 people) and 38.28 percent of the population in Columbiana (39,000 people) had as of 6 a.m. Friday.

dskolnick@vindy.com