On Monday, hospital officials across Ohio stressed the spike in coronavirus cases and the burden it is placing on hospital staff across the state.
“We’re not planning for the surge — the surge is here,” said Dr. Richard Lofgren of UC Health. “We’re approaching the point where the influx of COVID patients will displace non-COVID care.”
Lofgren is the leader of Zone 3, which includes the Miami Valley and southwest Ohio.
Coronavirus hospitalizations are continuing to climb in Ohio, with 4,358 patients in hospitals across the state as of Monday, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
“That is a 59% increase from just two weeks ago,” Gov. Mike DeWine said. “We also currently have 1,079 patients who are in the ICU, which is again far higher than we have seen so far during this pandemic.”
Lofgren said that hospital staff are visibly exhausted and experiencing burnout from the sharp increase in hospitalizations while also dealing with staff shortages as workers get sick.
Ohio reported more than 11,800 daily cases of coronavirus Monday, obliterating the previous record of 8,808 cases reported on Friday. However, DeWine noted that due to electronic lab reporting technology issues, information from multiple labs was not processed for two days and was included in Monday’s report. On Monday, 282 hospitalizations and 24 deaths were reported.
On Tuesday, Public Health - Dayton and Montgomery County Health Commissioner Jeff Cooper said that coronavirus is the sixth leading cause of death in Montgomery County.
“That’s just going to continue if we don’t alter our behavior,” Cooper said. “This is a very real pandemic. We have to take actions collectively as a society to protect each other.”
Typically, the leading causes of death include heart disease, cancer, accidents, stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, kidney disease and influenza/pneumonia, he said.
As of Monday, there have been 225 deaths attributed to coronavirus in Montgomery County, according to the Ohio Department of Health. It is the seventh highest number of total deaths in the state.
Ohio reported 8,604 daily cases of coronavirus Tuesday, making it the sixth straight day the state has recorded more than 7,000 cases, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
On Monday, there were more than 11,000 daily cases, but DeWine noted that two labs had technical issues that prevented them from reporting cases for two days.
“Yesterday’s data was a little inflated,” he said Tuesday. “This 8,000 is fairly close to where we think it is.”
Deaths increased by 98 for a total of 6,118. It’s the second-highest number of daily deaths the state has reported. Hospitalizations continued to increase in the state with 364 reported in the last day. There were 4,449 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the state, the most Ohio has reported during the pandemic as of Tuesday. Coronavirus patients represent about a quarter of the state’s hospitalized patients, DeWine said.
Ohio broke its record for daily hospitalizations with 417 reported Wednesday, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
The state surpassed 10,000 daily cases for the second time, reporting 10,835.
Deaths were also at a record high with 156 reported, bringing the total to 6,274. Previously, the governor noted that the daily death number reflects when the deaths were reported to the health department. It does not mean that all the deaths happened in the last day or even on the same day.
On Tuesday, the governor said Ohio could receive its first batch of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine around Dec. 15.
The federal government is expected to release batches of the vaccine on a rolling basis, with the Moderna vaccine being released about a week after DeWine said.
The first wave of Ohioans to get the vaccine will likely be healthcare and nursing home workers. Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, ODH chief medical officer, said that the federal government is sending out guidance on who should get the vaccine first and that the state is contact with federal officials as they continue planning.
On Thanksgiving, Gov. Mike DeWine did not hold a press conference and the Ohio Department of Health did not release coronavirus numbers.
The updated county alert levels, which the state typically shared on Thursdays, were released Wednesday. Montgomery, Lake and Lorain counties all moved to level 4, joining Franklin County.
Warren County was one of 11 counties placed on the level 4 watch list.
“The ongoing high prevalence of the virus throughout Ohio, as reflected in today’s alert system update, is very dangerous as we move into the holidays,” DeWine said Wednesday. “We have heard again this week from hospital administrators and front-line staff about how they are overwhelmed. It is imperative that Ohioans take the virus and this current situation seriously.”
On Friday, Ohio reported a total of 17,065 cases for Friday and Saturday. The daily average reported during the past seven days is 9,197 cases.
Deaths in Ohio since the pandemic began in March stood at 6,346, according to the new data. That is 72 more than the last figures released on Wednesday.
On Saturday, Ohio passed 400,000 cases and 26,000 hospitalizations. Ohio reported 6,895 more cases of coronavirus on Saturday, raising the state’s total reported cases since the beginning of the pandemic to 406,703. Hospitalizations rose to over 26,000 today.
Deaths rose by 32, resulting in a total of 6,378 Ohioans killed by the coronavirus since March. Hospitalizations increased by 302. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 26,262 people have been hospitalized.
The state said that due to a surge in testing, the data may be incomplete.
Ohio reported a total of 7,729 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, resulting in a total of 414,432 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. The state has reported that today’s data is incomplete due to a surge in testing.
Hospitalizations increased by 245, resulting in a total of 26,507 people hospitalized since the beginning of the pandemic. Currently, 4,908 people are in the hospital with COVID-19 and 1,142 people are in an intensive care unit. The Ohio Hospital association reported that one in four patients in inpatient care have tested positive for coronavirus and one in three ICU patients have tested positive for coronavirus.
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