More than 20,000 new COVID-19 cases in Ohio, setting new 1-day record

The Ohio Department of Health on Wednesday reported a new all-time record of 20,320 new COVID-19 cases in a single day.

That includes 877 new cases in the Mahoning Valley, also the highest single-day total ever: 466 new cases in Mahoning County (for a total of 40,477), 251 in Trumbull (31,362) and 160 in Columbiana (18,811).

Valley counties have reported a combined average of 415 new cases each day this month. There were an average of 320 new cases reported each day in November; 259 cases each day in October; 295 cases each day in September; and 113 cases each day in August.

The state on Christmas Eve surpassed 1.9 million total cases since the beginning of the pandemic, and on Dec. 21 surpassed 28,000 total deaths.

The state on Tuesday reported 61 new COVID-19 deaths since its last mortality report four days prior, none of which were reported in the Valley. That makes 2,209 new deaths reported so far this month.

There were about 2,000 deaths reported in November; more than 2,500 deaths in October; nearly 1,110 deaths in September; and about 380 deaths in August. ODH attributes deaths to the date they occurred, so new death reports are not indicative of their time frame.

There were 592 new COVID-19 hospitalizations and 64 new ICU admissions reported statewide in the past 24 hours. Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, Ohio Department of Health director, told reporters Wednesday the state’s hospitals now have more than 5,000 patients currently hospitalized for COVID-19 — the most since the pandemic began.

As of Dec. 22, fully vaccinated people accounted for 2,786 hospitalizations in the state since Jan. 1, and 664 fully vaccinated people have died. That means breakthrough infections are attributed to 4.5 percent of all COVID-19 deaths reported since the beginning of the year, and 5.6 percent of all hospitalizations.

More than 209,000 Ohioans are presumed to be actively infected as of Wednesday — nearly 2% of the state’s total population — up from the most recent low of 69,700 in early November.

The average seven-day rate of positive coronavirus tests in Ohio continued climbing Wednesday to 25.8% — the highest it’s been since the pandemic began. Before the recent surge of new cases, the state’s previous all-time high was 23.6% on April 20, 2020, amid COVID-19’s first wave.

Monday’s rate is nearly 20 times higher than the all-time low of 1.3 percent reported in late June. Valley counties’ average positivity rates remain below the state’s average.

The positivity rate for the two-week period ending Dec. 20 was 19.8% in Trumbull County (up from 19.2% the prior two weeks); 16.7% in Columbiana (up from 16.5%); and 14.8% in Mahoning (the same as the last report).

The state’s two-week average of new cases per 100,000 people rose last week for the seventh week in a row, following five straight weeks of decline. The state on Thursday reported an average of 1,010 new cases per 100,000 Ohioans, up from 783 the week prior. That’s more than 10 times the CDC’s threshold for “high” transmission, which is 100 cases per 100,000 people.

Mahoning County reported 865 new cases per 100,000 residents (up from 771 the prior week); Trumbull reported 794 (up from 766); Columbiana reported 727 new cases (down from 760).

In the past 24 hours, 11,462 new vaccinations were started in the state. As of Wednesday, 6,416,632 vaccine-eligible Ohioans have been fully vaccinated, or about 58.3% of Ohioans age 5 and older. As of Wednesday, 52.5% of all residents in Mahoning County have completed their vaccinations; 49.9% in Trumbull; and 43% in Columbiana.