Ohio’s COVID hospitalizations, cases continue to decline but remain high

West central Ohio includes Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Miami, Montgomery, Preble and Shelby counties and southwest Ohio includes Butler, Warren, Clinton, Hamilton, Clermont, Adams and Brown counties.

Thursday marked the third day in a row Ohio reported fewer than 3,000 COVID inpatients. It was the second day in a row west central Ohio had fewer than 400 COVID patients hospitalized.

The state recorded 257 COVID hospitalizations and 25 ICU admissions in the last day, according to the state health department. Ohio’s 21-day average is 300 hospitalizations a day and 27 ICU admissions a day.

In the past three weeks, Ohio’s seen the number of COVID patients in the state’s hospitals and ICUs decrease by 50%. During that same time period, west central Ohio reported a 42% decrease in coronavirus inpatients and a 57% decline in ICU patients with the virus, according to the Ohio Hospital Association. As for southwest Ohio, hospitalized COVID patients are down 43% and COVID ICU patients have decreased by 33% over the last three weeks.

“While I think we can all be very encouraged by the improving trends we’re seeing all across the state, let’s remember that our numbers in Ohio are really still quite high and we need tp be careful not to let our guard down too soon,” said ODH Director Dr. Brue Vanderhoff.

On Thursday Ohio added 4,176 daily COVID cases, making it the seventh straight day fewer than 5,000 cases were reported in the state. In the last three weeks, Ohio is averaging 7,842 cases a day, according to ODH. In the past week the state’s average is approximately 3,472 cases a day.

Despite the decrease in coronavirus cases, Ohio’s transmission rate is still nearly five times higher than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s definition of a high transmission rate.

In the past two weeks, Ohio is averaging 481 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people. The CDC defines a high transmission rate as 100 cases or more per 100,000 people. None of the state’s 88 counties reported fewer than 100 COVID cases per 100,000 people.

ODH reported for the following transmission rates for local counties:

As of Thursday, 61.5% of Ohioans have started the COVID-19 vaccine and 56.72% have finished it.

Nearly 7.19 million residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 6.63 million people have completed the vaccination, according to the state health department. More than 3.3 million Ohioans have received an additional vaccine dose.