COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Health reported 2,594 new COVID-19 cases in the state on Monday, a decrease of 87.5% from two weeks ago on Jan. 26, when 20,752 daily cases were reported. Recent data from the ODH shows a significant and consistent downward trend in cases, as well as a steady decline in hospitalizations.

"Worldwide, the American variant has produced a fairly dramatic pattern of illness, starting with a steep climb in cases followed by an equally steep decline," said Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, Director of the state's health department. "Ohio is experiencing the same pattern repeated in other parts of the nation and the world as this highly contagious COVID-19 omicron variant continues to make its way through the state."

Cases
The number of new cases today is less than one-third of the rolling 21-day average of daily cases, which is 9,956. Comparing that to the 7-day case average, 4,840, further shows how quickly cases have dropped in the last three weeks.

The data reveals this decline is particularly pronounced in Northeast Ohio. In Cuyahoga County, for example, daily COVID-19 cases went from an all-time peak of 5,686 reported on Jan. 2 to 100 cases reported on Sunday, a decline of 98.2% in a little over a month. Sunday was the lowest number of reported daily cases in Cuyahoga County since August 1, 2021.

"So, we are feeling hopeful, as we begin February, that better days are ahead," Vanderhoff said. But remember, we are still a very long way from having case levels like those we were seeing in the late spring, through the early fall. Our cases per capita are still, as a state, more than 10 times what is considered high in terms of levels of transmission."

Omicron remains the dominant variant of COVID-19 in Ohio, accounting for 95% of cases that were genomically sequenced in the two weeks before Jan. 15. Delta accounted for 4.7% of cases.

Hospitalizations
The ODH reported 179 new hospitalizations today, compared to the 21-day average of 328. While ODH data shows hospitalizations rising and falling over the last three weeks, each week's peak day of hospitalizations has been lower than the previous week's peak, showing an overall downward trend in COVID hospitalizations.

Twelve new ICU admissions were reported Monday, compared to 61 reported one week ago.

There are currently 3,054 COVID-19 patients in Ohio's hospitals, over 2,000 fewer patients than two weeks ago, when there were 5,223 COVID patients in hospitals on Jan. 25.

Non-COVID patients are currently occupying 65.8% of the state's hospital beds, according to ODH. COVID-positive patients account for 12.7%, leaving 21.5% of beds currently available. According to ODH, 624 COVID patients make up 15.2% of the state's ICU beds, non-COVID patients are occupying 62% of ICU beds, and 22.6% of ICU beds are currently open.

"The ongoing decline in hospitalizations is allowing many hospitals to resume services that needed to be postponed during this most recent surge," Vanderhoff said.

Vaccinations
To date, the COVID-19 vaccination has been completed in a total of 6.6 million people, which is 56.6% of the state's population. In the last 24 hours, the vaccine has been completed in 2,354 people.

As of Monday, 3.2 million Ohioans have received additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 2,467 receiving a booster shot in the last 24 hours.

Testing
There were 14,354 tests done on Feb. 5, the latest day this data from the ODH was available. Of those tests, 13.2% were positive, compared to the rolling 7-day average positivity rate, which is 14.5%. Click here for details on where to get a COVID-19 test in your area.

Note: The charts above are updated from a variety of sources, and may or may not reflect the latest COVID-19 data released by the state. These charts are regularly updated with new data and may not reflect the statistics in the text of this story at the time it was published.

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