Ohio’s 21-day COVID case average drops below 1,000 for first time in 7 months

For the first time since early August, Ohio’s 21-day COVID-19 cases average is fewer than 1,000 cases a day.

Friday the state’s averaged dropped to 985 cases a day, according to the Ohio Department of Health. The last time Ohio’s 21-day average was fewer than 1,000 cases a day was on Aug. 4 when the state averaged 939 cases a day.

Ohio hasn’t reported more than 1,000 daily cases since March 3. In the past day, the state recorded 594 coronavirus cases, according to ODH.

The majority of Ohio has a low COVID-19 community level, including all of the Miami Valley, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only 10 counties have a medium COVID community level. None of Ohio’s counties are at a high level.

Under the CDC’s most recent guidance, people in areas with a low coronavirus community level should stay up to date with COVID vaccines and get tested if they have symptoms of the virus. In medium communities people who are high-risk for severe illness should also talk to their health care provider about whether they should wear a face mask or take additional safety measures.

As of Friday, there were 668 people with COVID hospitalized in Ohio, including 39 in west central Ohio and 182 in southwest Ohio, according to the Ohio Hospital Association.

It’s a dramatic decrease two months ago, when the state was reporting record-high coronavirus hospitalizations, ICU admissions and cases. In the past 60 days the state recorded a 90% in hospital patients with COVID. During that same period, southwest Ohio reported an 81% drop and west central Ohio saw a 94% decline, according to OHA.

Southwest Ohio is made up of Butler, Warren, Hamilton, Adams, Brown, Clermont and Clinton counties and west central Ohio includes Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Miami, Montgomery, Preble and Shelby counties.

The number of COVID patients in Ohio’s ICUs has also steadily declined. Overall in Ohio, there’s been a 90% decrease in ICU patients with coronavirus in the past 60 days. In west central Ohio there’s been a 90% decline and southwest Ohio reported an 80% drop.

Of the 126 coronavirus patients in the state’s ICUs Friday, 35 where in southwest Ohio and eight were in west central Ohio, according to OHA.

The state reported 48 hospitalizations and six ICU admissions in the last day, according to ODH. Ohio is averaging 82 COVID hospitalizations a day and nine ICU admissions a day in the last 21 days.

Ohio added 198 coronavirus deaths Friday, bringing its total to 37,410, according to the state health department. The state updates death data twice a week, but starting next week will only update deaths on Thursdays.

The day a death is reported does not reflect the day a death occurred. Data can fluctuate because other states don’t regularly report death certificate details to Ohio’s Bureau of Vital Statistics.

More than 69% of Ohioans have started the COVID vaccine, including 72.13% of adults and 65.99% of people ages 5 and older. Nearly 57.5% of people, including 66.98% of adults and 61.08% of those 5 and older, have finished their vaccination.

About 7.25 million Ohioans have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 6.72 million have completed it. More than 3.42 million people in the state have received a booster or additional vaccine dose, according to ODH.

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