On 15th day of 1,000-plus new COVID-19 cases, DeWine mandates masks

COLUMBUS — After months of begging Ohioans to wear face coverings, Gov. Mike DeWine issued an order mandating all Ohioans wear masks in public during Wednesday's coronavirus briefing.

Before the order, only residents of counties in Level 3 (red) of the state's alert system are required to wear masks. The new mask requirement goes into effect Thursday at 6 p.m.

The news follows a 15-day streak of more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases each day. Today, the state reported 1,446 new confirmed cases of the virus for a total of 74,409 cases.

While the rate of infection is slowing in counties in Level 3 of the state's alert system, DeWine said, in the updated map which will be released tomorrow, several counties have increased from Levels 1 (yellow) and 2 (orange) to Level 3.

"Let's talk about these yellow counties, these orange counties. The goal is for those not to go red," said DeWine.

In addition, the state is also reporting 4,333 "probable cases" to-date, which is a new expanded case definition provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Statewide, 9,864 people have been hospitalized to-date — 128 more than Monday; 2,386 have been admitted to intensive care units.

There have been 2,187 cases in Mahoning County; 1,210 in Trumbull; and 1,477 in Columbiana.

Statewide, there have been 2,976 confirmed deaths to-date, including 247 in Mahoning County; 85 in Trumbull; and 62 in Columbiana; along with another 259 “probable deaths."

In Ohio, 54,426 COVID-19 patients are presumed to have recovered from the virus. That includes 1,606 patients in Mahoning County; 899 patients in Trumbull; and 1,246 in Columbiana. That metric is measured as the number of COVID-19 patients whose symptoms reportedly began more than 21 days ago but who have not died.

Mahoning County's 247 reported COVID-19 deaths remains the fourth-highest among all Ohio's 88 counties, according to the state's COVID-19 dashboard, which presents confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths in each county.

Mahoning County has the 10th-highest number of total cases in the state. With an estimated population of 228,683 people and 2,187 confirmed cases as of Wednesday, that's about one case of the virus for every 105 people.

On July 17, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines for COVID-19 isolation. Per the guidelines, people who test positive for the coronavirus can discontinue isolation 10 days after the onset of symptoms and when they do not experience a fever for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications.

This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 2:28 PM with the headline "On 15th day of 1,000-plus new COVID-19 cases, DeWine mandates masks."