COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Health reported 1,290 new COVID-19 cases in the state Thursday, bringing the total number of cases to 70,601.
The number of new cases today is higher than the rolling 21-day average of daily cases, which is 1,093. These numbers include both cases confirmed by a viral test and cases that meet the CDC's definition of probable. There have been 66,540 confirmed COVID-19 cases to date, which account for 96% of total cases.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine reported on July 16 there are now 19 counties, including Cuyahoga, Summit, and Lorain, on level three COVID-19 red alert status.
During the Governor's press briefing DeWine introduced Dr. Andrew Thomas, Chief Clinical Officer at Ohio State University and creator of the Ohio Public Health Advisory System.
Thomas outlined the seven indicators used to determine the alert status of a county, including cases per capita, five-day increases in new cases, and increases in non-congregate living cases.
Ron Graham, Health Commissioner with Lake County General Health, believes the alert system would be more accurate if it took into account and defined COVID-19 recoveries and contact tracing data.
“The numbers from the beginning have been very, very misleading,” Graham said.
“For there to be a recovery, there needs to be a definition of what that recovery is. Is that 60 days from the disease on-set, or is that 30 days.”
“There are so many factors in this data, that it’s really sad that we can’t get a better grip on what we need to do for the community.”
Dr. Leila Hojat, a University Hospitals infectious diseases physician, told News 5 the state warning system shouldn't be used as a motivation for residents to start improving their COVID-19 prevention habits.
Hojat said better COVID-19 hygiene should happen no matter the alert level of a resident's county.
She is hoping the governor will launch a statewide mask mandate because she believes different mask mandates in each county doesn't present a unified message.
“It’s not going to be a guide that is a perfect science,” Hojat said
“I don’t think that you should be waiting until level red to decide that you want to change your behavior.”
“If we have different rules in different areas in our state, then I think it’s going to be difficult for us to get through this. So yes, I think having a statewide mandate would be helpful.”
There have now been 3,103 coronavirus-related deaths across the state, an increase of 28 over the previous day, higher than the 21-day average of 16.
There were 205 new cases reported in Cuyahoga County today for a total of 9,895 to date
Cleveland reported 88 new cases and six deaths from the virus.
The ODH reported 115 new hospitalizations today, with 21 ICU admissions.
As of today, 48,330 Ohioans are presumed recovered from the disease, according to the ODH.
There were 25,750 tests done on July 14, the latest day this data from the ODH was available. Of those tests, 6.3% percent were positive, compared to the rolling 7-day average positivity rate, which is 6.4%. Click here for details on where to get a COVID-19 test in your area.
The median age of patients is 43 with the age range for infected patients from younger than 1 year old to 109 years old.
View more data from the ODH on their COVID-19 dashboard here.
Note: Some of the charts above are updated with new data daily, and after 24 hours, may not reflect the statistics at the time this story was published.
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Here is everything you need to know about testing for coronavirus in Ohio.
Here's a list of things in Northeast Ohio closed due to coronavirus concerns
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