Ohio records more than 500 COVID hospitalizations for first time in months

As cases and hospitalizations continue to increase ahead of the winter holidays, health officials are urging Ohioans to get vaccinated.

During a press conference Tuesday morning, ODH Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff was asked if people getting tested for COVID ahead of holiday travel could be behind the increase in coronavirus cases.

Vanderhoff said the increase in testing could result in a bump in cases, but the rise in hospitalizations would not impacted.

“Those have nothing to do with the increased testing that we’re doing out in the community,” he said. “If our increased positivity rate was exclusively a product of just looking more, we wouldn’t expect that we would see an increase in the number of people sick enough to end up in the hospital. That tells me the increases we’re seeing are real.”

Ohio reported 6,143 COVID cases on Tuesday. It’s the fourth time the state’s recorded more than 6,000 daily cases in a week. Ohio is averaging 4,842 cases a day over the last three weeks and 5,618 cases a day in the last week.

There were 3,299 hospitalized patients with COIVD-19 in Ohio Tuesday, including 900 in ICUs and 569 on ventilators, according to ODH.

One in six patients in the state’s hospitals and one in four in Ohio’s ICUs have COVID, the Ohio Hospital Association reported. The number of coronavirus patients in the hospital has increased 15% in the last week and 41% in the last three weeks. It’s decreased 10% in the past 60 days.

Ohio’s ICUs are also seeing an increase in coronavirus in recent weeks. COVID patients have increased 12% in a week and 32% in three weeks, according to OHA. It’s a 10% decrease from 60 days ago.

In the last day, the state recorded 55 COVID-19 ICU admissions. Ohio’s 21-day average is 22 ICU admissions a day, according to ODH.

As of Tuesday, 57.35% of Ohioans have started the coronavirus vaccine, including 67.97% of adults and 60.95% of those 5 and older. More than 11.5% of kids ages 5 to 11 have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

More than 52.5% of residents have finished the vaccine, including 63.44% of adults and 55.81% of Ohioans 5 and older, according to the state health department.