TOLEDO, Ohio — Many things have happened this week in terms of Ohio's battle with surging COVID-19 numbers. This week, Ohio has a new statewide curfew and multiple counties have activated stay-at-home advisories - including Lucas County this morning.
The governor started Thursday's briefing with a message from First Lady Fran DeWine, regarding some changes their family is making with Thanksgiving this year. This falls in line with guidance issued by the CDC earlier Thursday urging Americans to not travel
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine also discussed why the reported number of cases has an asterisk next to it now and why the numbers were delayed on Wednesday.
"We made a decision to double check these (antigen) numbers. ... Most states I'm told are not doing that. ... It's a very time-consuming process. On Monday, we got to the point we were not clearing these tests every day. The only thing that continues to drop in is when that test has been checked,.
"As of today, there are 12,000 of these that have not been double-checked. ... You can kind of do the math. If they started backing up on Monday, and we're at 12,000 now, ... we would expect most of that 12,000 will show up (under the reported cases change)," DeWine said. "We made a decision to double-check all antigen test results, so the 24-hour case change is low. Our data team tells us there are 12,000 antigen tests that have not yet been double-checked. Most of the 12,000 are expected to be confirmed."
KEY INDICATORS
- Total reported cases: 326,615
- Last 24 hour reported cases change: 7,787 (21-day average: 5,604)
- Total reported deaths: 5,890
- Last 24 hour reported deaths: 63 (21-day average: 29)
- Total hospitalizations: 23,560
- Last 24 hours reported hospitalizations: 343 (21-day average: 227)
- Total ICU admissions: 4,318
- Last 24 hours reported ICU admissions: 38 (21-day average: 24)
DeWine said that all 88 counties remain at high incidence.
"Anyone who wants to understand what is going on in their counties should look at these numbers -- it's the rate of new cases in the last two weeks," he said.
Looking at the top 10 counties, in our area Putnam is at No. 2. There are four counties with 1,000 cases per 100,000 or more. That means that about one out of every 100 people in those four counties has the virus and could be actively spreading it in their communities.
Testing has gone up 43% since October 17 and cases have gone up 299%.
Fourteen states are on Ohio's travel advisory now, meaning they have testing rates of 15% or higher for COVID-19:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Idaho
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Dakota
- Utah
- Wisconsin
One county is now purple on Ohio's COVID-19 advisory map. Franklin County is on a Level 4 Purple, described as "severe" exposure and spread of the coronavirus within the county and the state says people should only leave their home for supplies and services.
Fulton County is now a Level 3 Red county.
Updated COVID-19 numbers after Wednesday delay
For the first time since the pandemic began, the state of Ohio posted incomplete COVID-19 data Wednesday. Officials said the delay was due to a high number of cases, reduced staffing and some technical glitches in the reporting system.
At this point, state officials have confirmed 6,385 new infections, adding that “thousands of reports are pending review.”
"Our unprecedented case volume, combined with unexpected system errors, and reduced staffing at over-burdened local health departments due to illness, including COVID-19, led to the delay today," an ODH official told WTOL 11 on Wednesday.
Ohio’s new curfew
DeWine announced a 10 p.m.-5 a.m. statewide curfew on Tuesday, and it goes into effect for 21 days starting Thursday night. The curfew is aimed at all Ohioans to slow the spread of COVID-19 by limiting contacts.
Could a county reach purple status?
The governor will offer an updated look at the state’s colored-coded alert status map. At last check, a majority of Ohio’s 88 counties were designated as red, which indicates “level 3” of the tiered system. No counties to date have been elevated to purple “level 4” status.
