Cuyahoga Countys highest number of coronavirus infections remain in the eastern suburbs and portions of Clev – cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio The Cuyahoga County ZIP codes with the most coronavirus infections remain the eastern suburbs and portions of the city of Cleveland, according to data released Friday by the Board of Health.

Only one ZIP code in the western suburbs now remains among the areas hardest hit by the virus: the area around Middleburg Heights and Parma Heights.

Clevelands hardest-hit ZIP codes designated as those with 158 to 241 cases since the local outbreak began, are still neighborhoods in the center of the city and on its far western and eastern edges. As during the past several weeks, most-affected eastern suburbs still include the ZIP codes containing Beachwood, Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights and Warrensville Heights, among others.

As of Friday, 3,428 suburban county residents had been infected and 215 had died, the board reported. Thats an increase of 365 cases and 29 deaths since last week, when the board had reported its highest spike in weekly coronavirus cases (484) since COVID-19 hit Northeast Ohio.

New infections this week are slightly higher than they were in late March and early April. About 1,250 people have recovered.

Health Commissioner Terry Allan on Friday said he expects to see upsurges and downsurges over the course of the summer, ahead of what could be a long flu season, beginning in fall.

Allan attributed some of fluctuations in case counts to several possible factors: restaurants and businesses reopening, large protests over the weekend in which some demonstrators were not maintaining social-distance or wearing masks, more testing (leading to higher confirmed case counts), and people venturing out more during the warmer months.

Allan and other health officials drew attention to the disproportionate effect on communities of color. About 41% of suburban cases are black residents; 44.5% of cases are white residents. Of those who have required intensive-care treatment, 49% are black and 43% are white.

But officials also took the opportunity to address systemic racism and the weekends protests over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in the hands of Minneapolis police.

Said Deputy Director of Prevention and Wellness Ramona Brazile: To learn through reports that Mr. Floyd had survived COVID-19, but not the cruel hands of racism is too much.

Said Allan: Were experiencing in real time the collision of an international pandemic and the brutal killing of George Floyd, yet another heartbreaking demonstration of the plague of racism that still infects every fabric of our society.

The countys $5 million testing effort aimed at congregate living spaces, which often house vulnerable, largely minority populations, is underway. Some 1,600 tests have been conducted since May 8, officials said.

Some of those tests are among the roughly 15,000 administered by MetroHealth, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals this week. Thats an increase of 2,000 tests over last week, but about the same number of tests administered the week before that. This week, about 5% of people tested at the hospitals tested positive.

The availability of critical-care beds at county hospitals increased by two percentage points this week, to a 72% occupancy rate. Ventilator usage increased by one percentage point to 32%, and normal hospital bed usage increased by three percentage points to a 76% occupancy rate.

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Cuyahoga Countys highest number of coronavirus infections remain in the eastern suburbs and portions of Clev - cleveland.com