Ohio updates death data twice a week and numbers can fluctuate due to other states irregularly reporting death certificate information to Ohio’s Bureau of Vital Statistics. Because death certificate data can take weeks to be filed, COVID deaths can take up to a month or two to be reported.
Earlier this week ODH Director Dr. Brue Vanderhoff said an average of 64 Ohioans died every day in September due to the virus.
While the delta surge appears to have plateaued and cases and hospitalizations are declining, Vanderhoff said it could be weeks or months before Ohio knows how many deaths could be attributed to the delta wave.
According to ODH’s breakthrough dashboard, which is updated on Wednesdays, 10,172 people who were not fully vaccinated have died of COVID since Jan. 1. During that same period, the state has recorded 371 deaths in those who were fully vaccinated.
As for hospitalizations, the fully vaccinated account for 1,709 COVID hospitalizations this year. ODH reported 33,565 people who were not fully vaccinated have been hospitalized with the virus since Jan. 1.
As of Friday, 2,352 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in Ohio, with 702 in ICUs and 437 on ventilators. Two weeks ago, on Oct. 16, the state tallied 3,044 hospitalized patients, including 893 in the ICUs and 590 on ventilators. Nine percent of hospital beds, 14.99% of ICU beds and 9.26% of ventilators were being used by a COVID patient on Friday, according to ODH.
In the last day, Ohio recorded 176 hospitalizations and 14 ICU admissions. Last Friday, the state reported 239 daily hospitalizations and 20 daily ICU admissions.
Ohio’s 21-day average is 213 hospitalizations a day and 22 ICU admissions a day, according to the state health department.
Daily cases dropped below 4,000 Friday, after surpassing the 4,000 cases for the first time in six days on Thursday. The state reported 3,485 cases Friday.
Ohio is averaging 3,845 cases in the last three weeks and 3,378 cases in the last week.
More than 6.46 Ohioans have started the COVID-19 vaccine and 6.03 million have finished it, according to ODH.
Just over 55% of the state’s population has received at least one shot, including 66.77% of adults and 64.68% of those 12 and older.
More than 51.5% of Ohioans have completed the vaccine, including 62.47% of adults and 60.39% of those 12 and older.
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