Ohio reports fewest COVID cases since May

Thursday also marked the first time Ohio had back-to-back weeks with fewer than 20,000 cases since July 7.

Ohio saw a drop in coronavirus hospitalizations and ICU admissions last week as well.

The state recorded 432 hospitalizations and 22 ICU admissions in the past week, according to ODH. During the previous week, Ohio added 523 hospitalizations and 41 ICU admissions.

The state had 847 COVID patients in its hospitals COVID Thursday, including 58 in west central Ohio and 127 in southwest Ohio, according to the Ohio Hospital Association.

Southwest Ohio — which includes Butler, Warren, Hamilton, Adams, Brown, Clermont and Clinton counties — reported a 22% decrease in coronavirus inpatients in the last week and a 41% decrease over the past 21 days.

West central Ohio — which consists of Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Miami, Montgomery, Preble and Shelby counties — saw a similar trend. The number of patients hospitalized with COVID dropped 25% from last week and was down 57% from 21 days ago, according to OHA.

Statewide, there were 127 ICU patients with the virus Thursday, including 16 in southwest Ohio and seven in west central Ohio.

For west central Ohio, it was a 22% decrease compared to last week and a 36% decrease from 21 days ago.

Southwest Ohio did not report a change in the number of ICU patients with coronavirus from a week ago, but saw a 48% decrease over the past 21 days, according to OHA.

Thursday, Ohio added 89 weekly COVID deaths, bringing its total to 39,856, according to the state health department.

Ohio continues to see an interest in COVID boosters after an updated shot was released that offers better protection against current variants.

More than a million people have received their second booster dose of the vaccine, including 61,642 people who got the shot in the last week. About 3.8 million people have received their first booster, according to ODH.

Nearly 325,500 people in the state have received the updated shot since its been released.

So far, 7.47 million people in Ohio — roughly 63.93% of the state’s population — have started the vaccine and 6.92 million have finished it. About 59.3% of Ohioans have completed the initial vaccine series.