Ohio breaks record for hospitalized COVID patients for 2nd day in a row

One in four people in Ohio’s hospitals and one in three ICU patients have coronavirus, according to the Ohio Hospital Association. The coronavirus inpatients are up 17% in the last week and 23% in the past three weeks. Ohio’s ICUs have seen a 3% increase in COVID patients in the past week and 11% increase in the last three weeks.

Over the last 60 days, the number of hospitalized COVID patients in Ohio has increased 132% and is up 82% in ICUs, according to OHA.

In the past day, Ohio recorded 484 daily hospitalizations and 43 ICU admissions, according to the state health department. Ohio’s 21-day average is 328 hospitalizations a day and 32 ICU admissions a day.

Daily COVID cases dropped back under 20,000 on Thursday, but the 19,774 cases is the second highest number of daily cases Ohio has reported during the entire pandemic. The state is averaging 11,166 cases a day in the last three weeks and 14,131 cases a day in the past week.

The state’s transmission rate increased to 1,364.7 cases per 100,000 people, according to ODH. It’s the third straight week the transmission rate has increase by approximately 300 points. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define a high transmission rate as 100 cases per 100,000 people. All 88 counties in Ohio have at least 300 cases per 100,000 people, with Cuyahoga County having the highest transmission rate at 3,023 cases per 100,000.

According to ODH, local counties are reporting the following transmission rates:

As of Thursday 59.76% of Ohioans have started the COVID vaccine, including 70.02% of adults and 63.52% of those 5 and older. More than 55% of residents, including 65% of adults and 58.46% of people 5 and older, have finished the vaccine series, according to ODH.

Nearly 6.99 million Ohioans have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 6.42 million have completed it. More than 2.66 million residents have received an additional dose.