Ohio has recorded its second-highest number of confirmed deaths from COVID-19, and the third day in a week of death totals in triple digits.
Hospitalization and intensive care unit patients dropped slightly, but COVID patients on ventilators hit another record.
Positivity rate now at 18.9%; 7 day moving average 15.1%
— Karen Kasler (@karenkasler) December 2, 2020
5,208 Ohio COVID hospitalizations (down fr 5,226 yesterday; 19.03% of beds have COVID patients)
1,222 in ICU (down fr 1,233; 25.31% of beds)
Record 714 on ventilators (up fr 693; 14.42% capacity)
There were more than 7,400 confirmed cases – a month ago, there were just over 2,700. Thousands of reports are still listed as "pending".
In his briefing Monday, Gov. Mike DeWine warned that there’s no indication that the state has hit a plateau.
"There’s a two- to three-week lag before a case, they test positive and when they might be going into the hospital, when they might be going into an ICU," DeWine said. "So we know that what’s going to happen for the next couple of weeks is sort of baked in already, it’s going to happen."
113 new deaths were reported Wednesday, up from 102 the day before. 141 deaths were reported last Wednesday.
Among the recent deaths – Scioto County Commissioner Mike Crabtree, who had just been re-elected.
And Ohio's positivity rate for Wednesday is 18.9%, with a 7-day moving average of 15.1%. That rate, above 15%, puts Ohio on its own travel advisory list of states to avoid.
Copyright 2020 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.