WEEKLY COVID-19 TRENDS | Ohio’s hope for a ‘normal’ spring disappears amid surge

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated to correct the percentages of people vaccinated in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.]

COLUMBUS — On March 1, Ohio was looking forward to a somewhat normal spring. Six weeks later, spring has sprung, but the prospect of "normalcy" has only gotten further away.

For the fourth week in a row, Ohio's coronavirus cases have risen, despite consistently decreasing COVID-19 testing.

Gov. Mike DeWine promised Ohio can reopen when it reports an average of 50 new cases per 100,000 people for two weeks. Three weeks ago, the state reported 146.9 new cases per 100,000 people. Two weeks ago, that average rose to 167.1. Last week it was up to 183.7.

Hospitalizations are also on the rise.

On April 10, 1,161 Ohioans were hospitalized with COVID-19, up from 907 on March 11.

In the coming weeks, a coronavirus strain from the United Kingdom — known to be more contagious and more deadly — will become the dominant strain in Ohio.

Meanwhile, the state's vaccine rollout has slowed. Last week, 409,281 people received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, down from 461,345 the week before.

"While we're going in the wrong direction and certainly going away from our goal of 50 [new cases], we're not seeing the kind of runaway growth we've seen in the fall," DeWine said. "We can still turn this around if we continue to get people vaccinated."

April 4 to April 10 in numbers

• 9,596 new confirmed cases were reported in Ohio; a total of 876,418 confirmed cases have been reported as of April 10.
• There have been 741 new hospitalizations; a total of 54,047 people have been hospitalized as of April 10.
• Between April 4 and April 10, 173 COVID-19 deaths were reported. The state reported18,819 COVID-19 deaths in Ohio April 10.
• Ohio is reporting10,349 people have recovered from the virus between April 4 to April 10. The state reported981,253 total recovered cases April 10.
• As of April 10, 34.71 percent of the state population has received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. That's an increase of 409,281, down from 461,345 new vaccinations the week before.

Ohio Public Health Advisory System map

For the first time in weeks, a county — Franklin, home to Columbus — is on the watch list to turn purple on the Ohio Public Health Advisory System map. This week, 32 counties are orange and four are yellow, the same as last week. The rest are red.

Columbiana County remained orange. Mahoning and Trumbull counties remained red and are both considered to have a high incidence of coronavirus spread. The number of new cases per capita has increased for all three counties.

• Mahoning County reported 402 new cases, or 176 cases per 100,000 people, an increase from 150 cases per 100,000 people last week;
• Trumbull County reported 309 new cases, or 156 cases per 100,000 people, an increase from 149 new cases per 100,000 people last week;
• Columbiana County reported 116 new cases, or 114 cases per 100,000 people, an increase from 82 cases per 100,000 people last week.

All three counties meet the indicators for new cases per capita and the proportion of new cases occurring outside group settings such as long-term care or correctional facilities.

Mahoning County also meets the indicator for increasing number of new cases.

Testing

• The weekly volume of virus testing statewide steadily decreased since reaching an all-time peak on Nov. 25.
• The seven-day moving average for positive tests was 4.5 percent on Thursday; it steadily increased since reaching the all-time low of 3 percent in early March. That average percent peaked April 20 at 23.6 percent.

Vaccinations

• As of Saturday, 4,056,758 Ohioans have started to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, including 81,492 in Mahoning County, 67,030 in Trumbull and 29,662 in Columbiana.
• Statewide, 34.71 percent of Ohioans have started to receive the vaccine.

Mahoning County is above the statewide rate, with 35.6 percent of county residents having received the first dose of the vaccine. In Trumbull County, 33.9 percent of residents have started to receive the vaccine, and 29.1 percent of Columbiana County residents have started to receive the vaccine.

Coronavirus week by week

Here's a breakdown of how each complete week of the pandemic has looked like in Ohio so far. Data in bold reflect the peaks in new cases, deaths, hospitalizations and ICU admissions.

March 15 to March 21

• New cases: 221
• New deaths: 3

March 22 to March 28

• New cases: 1,159
• New deaths: 22
• New hospitalizations: 261
• New ICU admissions: 123

March 29 to April 4

• New cases: 2,333
• New deaths: 77
• New hospitalizations: 662
• New ICU admissions: 203

April 5 to April 11

• New cases: 2,448
• New deaths: 140
• New hospitalizations: 853
• New ICU admissions: 246

April 12 to April 18

• New cases: 3,752
• New deaths: 192
• New hospitalizations: 660
• New ICU admissions: 188

April 19 to April 25

• New cases: 5,044
• New deaths: 237
• New hospitalizations: 596
• New ICU admissions: 178

April 26 to May 2

• New cases: 3,554
• New deaths: 279
• New hospitalizations: 581
• New ICU admissions: 128

May 3 to May 9

• New cases: 4,023
• New deaths: 264
• New hospitalizations: 604
• New ICU admissions: 134

May 10 to May 16

• New cases: 3,276
• New deaths: 243
• New hospitalizations: 570
• New ICU admissions: 100

May 17 to May 23

• New cases: 3,452
• New deaths: 299
• New hospitalizations: 567
• New ICU admissions: 129

May 24 to May 30

• New cases: 3,351
• New deaths: 182
• New hospitalizations: 574
• New ICU admissions: 119

May 31 to June 6

• New cases: 2,769
• New deaths: 210
• New hospitalizations: 449
• New ICU admissions: 102

June 7 to June 13

• New cases: 2,485
• New deaths: 176
• New hospitalizations: 404
• New ICU admissions: 104

June 14 to June 20

• New cases: 3,169
• New deaths: 136
• New hospitalizations: 337
• New ICU admissions: 79

June 21 to June 27

• New cases: 4,907
• New deaths: 101
• New hospitalizations: 423
• New ICU admissions: 83

June 28 to July 4

• New cases: 6,519
• New deaths: 96
• New hospitalizations: 487
• New ICU admissions: 136

July 5 to July 11

• New cases: 7,840
• New deaths: 123
• New hospitalizations: 659
• New ICU admissions: 116

July 12 to July 18

• New cases: 9,356
• New deaths: 95
• New hospitalizations: 743
• New ICU admissions: 143

July 19 to July 25

• New cases: 9,050
• New deaths: 164
• New hospitalizations: 632
• New ICU admissions: 126

July 26 to Aug. 1

• New cases: 8,484
• New deaths: 207
• New hospitalizations: 785
• New ICU admissions: 138

Aug. 2 to Aug. 8

• New cases: 7,453
• New deaths: 150
• New hospitalizations: 569
• New ICU admissions: 97

Aug. 9 to Aug. 15

• New cases: 7,345
• New deaths: 150
• New hospitalizations: 784
• New ICU admissions: 113

Aug. 16 to Aug. 22

• New cases: 6,117
• New deaths: 148
• New hospitalizations: 568
• New ICU admissions: 109

Aug. 23 to Aug. 29

• New cases: 6,778
• New deaths: 150
• New hospitalizations: 539
• New ICU admissions: 78

Aug. 30 to Sept. 5

• New cases: 8,168
• New deaths: 127
• New hospitalizations: 520
• New ICU admissions: 80

Sept. 6 to Sept. 12

• New cases: 6,374
• New deaths: 149
• New hospitalizations: 476
• New ICU admissions: 56

Sept. 13 to Sept. 19

• New cases: 6,347
• New deaths: 198
• New hospitalizations: 466
• New ICU admissions: 87

Sept. 20 to Sept. 26

• New cases: 5,871
• New deaths: 123
• New hospitalizations: 435
• New ICU admissions: 72

Sept. 27 to Oct. 3

• New cases: 7,221
• New deaths: 178
• New hospitalizations: 550
• New ICU admissions: 72

Oct. 4 to Oct. 10

• New cases: 8,872
• New deaths: 72
• New hospitalizations: 620
• New ICU admissions: 106

Oct. 11 to Oct. 17

• New cases: 12,047
• New deaths: 70
• New hospitalizations: 654
• New ICU admissions: 114

Oct. 18 to Oct. 24

• New cases: 14,717
• New deaths: 137
• New hospitalizations: 997
• New ICU admissions: 166

Oct. 25 to Oct. 31

• New cases: 18,828
• New deaths: 92
• New hospitalizations: 1,126
• New ICU admissions: 154

Nov. 1 to Nov. 7

• New cases: 28,815
• New deaths: 189
• New hospitalizations: 1,263
• New ICU admissions: 146

Nov. 8 to Nov. 14

• New cases: 42,719
• New deaths: 190
• New hospitalizations: 1,681
• New ICU admissions: 182

Nov. 15 to Nov. 21

• New cases: 50,721
• New deaths: 235
• New hospitalizations: 2,142
• New ICU admissions: 207

Nov. 22 to Nov. 28

• New cases: 58,933
• New deaths: 361
• New hospitalizations: 2,044
• New ICU admissions: 214

Nov. 29 to Dec. 5

• New cases: 57,915
• New deaths: 512
• New hospitalizations: 2,697
• New ICU admissions: 262

Dec. 6 to Dec. 12

• New cases: 64,866
• New deaths: 436
• New hospitalizations: 2,844
• New ICU admissions: 281

Dec. 13 to Dec. 19

• New cases: 50,291
• New deaths: 441
• New hospitalizations: 2,750
• New ICU admissions: 332

Dec. 20 to Dec. 26

• New cases: 42,714
• New deaths: 352
• New hospitalizations: 1,960
• New ICU admissions: 206

Dec. 27 to Jan. 2

• New cases: 40,482
• New deaths: 450
• New hospitalizations: 2,120
• New ICU admissions: 221

Jan. 3 to Jan. 9

• New cases: 44,611
• New deaths: 485
• New hospitalizations: 2,424
• New ICU admissions: 238

Jan. 10 to Jan. 16

• New cases: 39,688
• New deaths: 441
• New hospitalizations: 1,991
• New ICU admissions: 197

Jan. 17 to Jan 23

• New cases: 29,204
• New deaths: 452
• New hospitalizations: 1,637
• New ICU admissions: 162

Jan. 24 to Jan. 30

• New cases: 24,335
• New deaths: 375
• New hospitalizations: 1,450
• New ICU admissions: 175

Jan. 31 to Feb, 6

• New cases: 17,780
• New deaths: 437
• New hospitalizations: 1,342
• New ICU admissions: 150

Feb. 7 to Feb. 13

• New cases: 13,159
• New deaths: 3,554
• New hospitalizations: 1,015
• New ICU admissions: 93

Feb. 14 to Feb. 20

• New cases: 9,405
• New deaths: 350
• New hospitalizations: 825
• New ICU admissions: 98

Feb. 21 to Feb. 27

• New cases: 9,476
• New deaths: 412
• New hospitalizations: 880
• New ICU admissions: 107

Feb. 28 to March 6

• New cases: 7,386
• New deaths: 419
• New hospitalizations: 651
• New ICU admissions: 75

March 7 to March 13

• New cases: 6,770
• New deaths: 380
• New hospitalizations: 668
• New ICU admissions: 61

March 14 to March 20

• New cases: 7,019
• New deaths: 311
• New hospitalizations: 583
• New ICU admissions: 58

March 21 to March 27

• New cases: 7,835
• New deaths: 183
• New hospitalizations: 588
• New ICU admissions: 63

March 28 to April 3

• New cases: 9,342
• New deaths: 116
• New hospitalizations: 619
• New ICU admissions: 63

April 4 to April 10

• New cases: 9,596
• New deaths: 173
• New hospitalizations: 741
• New ICU admissions: 79

This story was originally published April 12, 2021 at 3:52 AM with the headline "WEEKLY COVID-19 TRENDS | Ohio’s hope for a ‘normal’ spring disappears amid surge."