Ohio reports 19,774 new COVID-19 cases; 1,003 Valley cases — the most ever in one day
The Ohio Department of Health on Thursday reported 19,774 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours.
That includes 1,003 new cases in the Mahoning Valley, the highest single-day total ever: 516 new cases in Mahoning County (for a total of 40,993), 334 in Trumbull (31,696) and 153 in Columbiana (18,964).
Valley counties have reported a combined average of 434 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 is expected to break 2 million total cases since the beginning of the pandemic by New Year’s Eve. The state on Dec. 21 surpassed 28,000 total deaths.
The state’s two-week average of new cases per 100,000 people rose this week for the eighth week in a row, following five straight weeks of decline. The state on Thursday reported an average of 1,365 new cases per 100,000 Ohioans, up from 1,010 the week prior. That’s more than 13 times the CDC’s threshold for “high” transmission, which is 100 cases per 100,000 people.
Mahoning County reported 1,281 new cases per 100,000 residents, the 11th highest among Ohio’s 88 counties (up from 865 the prior week); Trumbull reported 1,153, the 17th highest (up from 794); and Columbiana reported 877 new cases, the 40th highest (up from 727).
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 484 new COVID-19 hospitalizations and 43 new ICU admissions reported statewide in the past 24 hours. Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, Ohio Department of Health director, told reporters the state’s hospitals had more than 5,300 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 as of Wednesday — the most at one time since the pandemic began.
As of Dec. 29, fully vaccinated people accounted for 2,853 hospitalizations in the state since Jan. 1, and 701 fully vaccinated people have died. That means breakthrough infections are attributed to 4.6 percent of all COVID-19 deaths reported since the beginning of the year, and 5.5 percent of all hospitalizations.
More than 221,000 Ohioans are presumed to be actively infected as of Thursday — about 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 Thursday to 27% — 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.
Today’s positivity rate is more than 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).
In the past 24 hours, 13,614 new vaccinations were started in the state. As of Wednesday, 6,429,942 vaccine-eligible Ohioans have been fully vaccinated, or about 58.5% of Ohioans age 5 and older. As of Thursday, 52.6% of all residents in Mahoning County have completed their vaccinations; 50% in Trumbull; and 43.1% in Columbiana.