He said that means 86 percent of Ohioans are living in a high incidence county, according to Centers for Disease Control guidelines
“This is a critical time,” DeWine said. “This virus is coming after all of us. COVID-19 is everywhere. We can’t hide from it, we can’t run from it, we have to face it. The stakes in Ohio never have been higher."
DeWine said there are 56 red, or level 3, counties in Ohio, the most reported and an increase of 13 counties from last week.
Butler, Warren, Preble, Montgomery, Greene, Champaign and Clark are all red counties, he said. Butler County has been red for 10 consecutive weeks.
Level 4 is most severe level of the state’s public health advisory system. No counties have met the standards for Level 4 since the alert system was revealed at the end of June.
Nearly 5,000 cases of coronavirus were reported Thursday in Ohio, breaking the record of 4,229, DeWine said.
The state added 4,961 cases for a total of 235,170, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Thursday was the third straight day Ohio has recorded more than 4,000 cases and are the state’s three highest days for cases since the pandemic started in March.
The governor pushed back against claims the state’s increase in cases was due to increased testing, noting that cases have increased at a higher rate than testing. Since Sept. 24, Ohio has increased the number of tests by 44 percent, he said. In that same period, coronavirus cases increased by 280 percent.
DeWine said there are 2,075 patients hospitalized by COVID-19, a 55 percent increase in hospitalized patients compared to two weeks ago.
The governor said Ohioans must continue to practice social distancing and mask wearing, especially when socializing indoors. He has heard stories from county health directors about people spreading the coronavirus during social events like weddings, funerals and Halloween parties.
He said a vaccine is coming, probably early in 2021.
“The light is coming,” he said.
Recently, Butler County school districts have made adjustments because of the coronavirus.
More than 820 students at Middletown Middle School moved to all-remote learning for two weeks this week.
Madison High School recently announced it was doing the same and other officials from local districts continue to watch their staffing and student quarantine totals closely but have no plans for switching to all remote learning.
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