With COVID-19 cases per 100,000 Ohioans at the lowest point since early August, the Ohio Department of Health’s director said the end of the pandemic “is in sight,” but it’s not over.

“The fact is COVID-19 is still a real presence in Ohio,” Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, ODH director, said Thursday. “As much as we look forward to declaring, ‘we’re in the all clear,’ the data still points toward caution and tells us we’re not quite there yet.”

But Vanderhoff said the state is “fast approaching numbers” that will be below 50 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 — a level of substantial risk of transmission — and “even sooner we’ll get below 100, which is that threshold for high rates of transmission.”

There were 160.7 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents for the period between Feb. 10 and Wednesday compared to 255.8 cases per 100,000 last week, according to data provided Thursday by the ODH.

The cases per 100,000 Ohioans hasn’t been this low since Aug. 5 with 125.1.

It was the fifth consecutive week of declines after 11 straight weeks of increases.

The state saw a 37.2 percent reduction in cases per 100,000 residents from last week.

Cases in Ohio have declined by 1,341 percent since the record high five weeks ago.

The rates in Mahoning and Trumbull were again among the lowest among the 88 counties in Ohio.

“While we are steadily headed in the right direction, omicron is not quite done threatening us yet,” Vanderhoff said.

He added: “We certainly hope we have seen the worst that COVID-19 has to offer. The omicron surge is waning and that’s a big relief. As shown by both the delta and omicron rates, even after omicron fades away, it’s likely another variant comes along.”

The state had 481 COVID-19 cases two weeks ago, 949.5 COVID-19 cases three weeks ago, 1,582 COVID-19 cases four weeks ago, a record high 2,154.8 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents five weeks ago.

The state’s cases are less than two times what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider to be high transmission areas for COVID-19.

The CDC number for high transmission is 100 cases per 100,000. It hasn’t been below that since July 29 when 77.4 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents were reported by the ODH.

Also, the state’s COVID-19 hospitalization rate has declined from its Jan. 11 peak of 6,729 to 1,264 Thursday, according to Ohio Hospital Association statistics. It’s at its lowest number since Aug. 12, 2021, when there were 1,218.

VALLEY RATES

Youngstown State University on Thursday announced adjustments to its masking requirements on campus, effective immediately.

Under the updated protocols, masks will remain required in all academic classroom and laboratory settings. For indoor campus areas outside of academic and laboratory classroom settings, however, masks are no longer required, although the university recommends that they still be worn. Social distancing, to the extent possible, is still encouraged across all campus facilities.

The rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents declined in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties. But Columbiana had a higher number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 than the state average.

Mahoning is 69th in the state with 126.4 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.

It was also 69th last week with 208.6 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.

Mahoning was 74th two weeks ago with 344.6 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, 77th three weeks ago with 620.9 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, 76th four weeks ago with 1,102.8 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents and 72nd five weeks ago with 1,789.4 COVID-19 cases per 100,000.

Trumbull is 72nd in the state this week with 126.4 cases per 100,000 residents.

It was 76th last week with 166.7 cases per 100,000 residents.

Trumbull was 78th in the state two weeks ago with 294.5 cases per 100,000 residents, also 78th three weeks ago with 541 cases per 100,000 residents, 79th four weeks ago with 958.2 cases per 100,000 residents and 78th five weeks ago with 1,546.7 cases per 100,000.

Columbiana is 41st this week with 185.5 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.

Columbiana was 49th last week with 278.8 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.

It was 65th two weeks ago with 442.7 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, 70th three weeks ago with 784.2 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, also 70th four weeks ago with 1,384.9 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents and 70th again five weeks ago with 1,797.2 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.

The ODH measures cases per 100,000 residents among counties to get a fair comparison because total cases would result in more-populous counties ranking higher.