Coronavirus hospitalizations plunge among Ohios most vaccinated age groups – cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Coronavirus hospitalizations have dropped sharply among older Ohioans, the same people who most likely have been vaccinated.

Admissions for those at least 70 years old declined 70% over the last 45 days to 858, in comparison to 2,898 COVID-19 hospital admissions during the previous 45 days, cleveland.com found in an analysis of Ohio Department of Health reports through Sunday.

This is the age group most extensively vaccinated to date, with more than 75% receiving at least one vaccine and all doses complete for more than 65% of these people.

While during the last 45-day period there were fewer hospitalizations overall, regardless of age, the drop was much smaller for younger age groups - those where vaccinations are not nearly as extensive.

This ties into a point Gov. Mike DeWine has repeatedly raised as more variants of coronavirus work their way into Ohio, increasing case numbers and hospitalizations lately to some extent.

We can still turn this around if more people continue to get vaccinated, DeWine said last week. We are in a race. Its a life and death race.

The focus at first was on vaccinating older Ohioans because they accounted for the lions share of the most serious cases. Recently, vaccinations opened for anyone age 16 and up.

The hospital numbers show a clear trend. While hospital admissions are down 70% for those age 70 and up, admissions are down just:

* 14% for Ohioans in their 20s, from 185 during the first 45-day period to 160 over the last 45 days. This group is 10% fully vaccinated.

* 16% for those in their 30s, from 261 to 219. This group is 14% fully vaccinated.

* 36% for those in their 40s, from 464 to 297. This group is 17% fully vaccinated.

* 37% for those in their 50s, from 842 to 534. This group is 25% fully vaccinated.

* 53% for those in their 60s, from 1,437 to 672. About half of this group is fully vaccinated - 41% age 60 to 64, and 58% age 65 to 69.

The Ohio Department of Health reported two weeks ago that it knew of only 34 fully vaccinated people who had been infected, resulting in just five hospitalizations and zero deaths by that point.

Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner. See other data-related stories at cleveland.com/datacentral.

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Coronavirus hospitalizations plunge among Ohios most vaccinated age groups - cleveland.com