COLUMBUS, Ohio — Over 3,000 Ohioans have died or have likely died as a result of coronavirus, as the state reports 15 new COVID-19-related deaths and 1,150 new COVID-19 cases.
The continued spread of coronavirus has put several more local counties — now Summit, Lorain and Trumbull — into Level 3 “Red Alert” status under the state’s color-coded COVID-19 alert system, meaning these counties are now under the face mask mandate and must take additional measures to stem the disease.
RELATED: Summit, Lorain, Trumbull counties now at Level 3 COVID-19 risk, Cuyahoga Co. approaching Level 4
With 1,150 new cases Thursday, there have now been 61,331 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases in Ohio since the outbreak began. The new daily case number is below Wednesday’s report of 1,277 cases, but still well above the 21-day average, which was 846 as of Wednesday.
The Ohio Department of Health reports 81 new hospitalizations on Thursday, above the latest available 21-day average of 68. Nineteen more ICU admissions were reported Thursday, compared to the 21-day average of 16.
Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday that the latest positivity rate, or percent of COVID-19 tests performed on a given day that came back positive, rose to 6.4%, which is slightly above recent trends. The rate had generally hovered between 5% and 6%. He also noted that health officials have noticed that the positivity rate tends to dip lower on weekend tests.
Cleveland reported 100 new coronavirus cases, bringing their total to 2,946.
Some data from the state — such as county-level case and mortality statistics, and current trend data — was not available on the state’s coronavirus website at the time this story was published.
