Ohio moving toward new phase of pandemic as cases continue to drop, DeWine says

The governor urged anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated to continue to wear a mask in public and those who are eligible for the vaccine to get it.

Just under 350 daily cases were reported in Ohio Thursday, according to the state health department. It’s the sixth consecutive day the state recorded fewer than 500 daily cases.

In the last 21 days, Ohio averaged 539 cases a day.

The states case rate per 100,000 people also is continuing to decrease.

As of Wednesday, Ohio was averaging 39.1 cases per 100,000 in the last two weeks. On Saturday it was 49.5

Only 16 of the state’s 88 counties was above the 50 cases per 100,000 benchmark on Wednesday.

Lawrence County had the highest rate in the state with 77.4 cases per 100,000 people and Coshocton had the lowest with 5.5 cases.

In the Miami Valley, Greene, Clark, Preble, Warren, Logan, Darke, Butler, Miami and Montgomery counties all reported less than 50 cases per 100,000. Champaign County, however, was at 64.3 cases.

Hospitalizations and ICU admissions were also down on Thursday.

Ohio reported 49 daily hospitalizations compared to its 21-day average of 66 hospitalizations a day, according to ODH.

Six ICU admissions were recorded in the last day. In the last three weeks, Ohio is averaging eight ICU admissions a day.

More than 5,423,000 people in Ohio have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine as of Thursday and 4,848,707 people have finished it.

Nearly 46.5% of Ohioans have started the vaccine and nearly 41.5% have completed it, ODH reported.