Ohio surpasses 1,300 hospitalized COVID patients for first time in 2 weeks

Credit: Provided

Credit: Provided

Ohio reported 1,302 hospitalized coronavirus patients Wednesday, the highest number reported in the last two weeks, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

It’s the third straight day the state has broken the highest mark for patient count over the previous 14 days. On Monday, 1,236 patients were reported and the number was 1,282 on Tuesday.

On April 1, Ohio recorded 1,039 hospitalized patients.

The number of COVID patients in Ohio’s ICU’s and on ventilators has also increased.

The state reported 358 ICU patients and 199 on ventilators Wednesday compared to 261 ICU patients and 147 patients on ventilators on April 1.

Ohio also recorded 121 hospitalizations and 11 ICU admissions in the last 24 hours, bringing its total to 54,455 hospitalizations and 7,573 ICU admissions total since the pandemic began roughly 13 months ago.

Daily cases topped 2,000 for the second straight day, with 2,216 reported. Ohio has recorded 1,045,945 total cases throughout the pandemic.

On Tuesday, Ohio advised vaccine providers in the state to halt the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after the FDA and CDC issued a similar recommendation due to reports of a rare and severe blood clot in six people out of the 6.8 million in the U.S. who have received the vaccine.

Gov. Mike DeWine said the FDA and CDC expects the pause to last “days to weeks” and not “weeks to months.”

Health experts said the news shouldn’t discourage people from getting the vaccine.

“I see this move today as one of great transparency of the medical process,” Ohio Department of Health Chief Medical Office Bruce Vanderhoff said Tuesday. “This should be reassuring that the scientific and medical community is really on this and watching very closely to ensure that what people are receiving is in fact safe.”

As of Wednesday, 4,206,856 people in Ohio have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 2,774,456 have finished the vaccine.

Nearly 36% of Ohioans have their first shot and 23.74% completed the inoculation.

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