Mapping Ohios 629,354 coronavirus cases; update, trends show drop in hospitalizations and cases – cleveland.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio - After sharp increases through much of the fall, both coronavirus cases and hospitalizations have begun to decline in Ohio.

The 58,752 cases reported over the last week marked the lowest-seven day total since the first days of December, and the number of patients in hospitals across the state the last three days have been at the lowest levels since late November.

Among the possible factors: closing of many schools for in-person instruction starting last month, a 10 p.m. curfew instituted by Gov. Mike DeWine in mid-November, a public awareness effort to encourage people to avoid large holiday gatherings, and possible changes by some hospitals in considering when to admit patients.

Cases are still at a high level, however.

To date there have been 629,354 cases, 35,048 hospitalizations and 8,122 deaths reported by the Ohio Department of Health.

This means that 1-in-19 Ohioans is now known to have contracted the virus at some point this year.

The number of coronavirus cases reported by the state of Ohio has dropped each of the last four days, and the seven-day average is now near early-December levels.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

There were 4,807 coronavirus patients hospitalized across the state, according to the preliminary count for Monday from the Ohio Hospital Association, down from the record of 5,308 on Tuesday, Dec. 15.

Among the patients, 1,164 were being cared for in intensive care units, down from a record 1,318 on Tuesday.

On Sept. 22, the first day of fall, there were just 590 patients, including 199 in intensive care units, before shooting up sharply.

Thirty-two percent of the states hospital beds were reported vacant on Sunday, including 25% of the intensive care unit beds, though some regions and individual hospitals have reported operating near capacity.

The number of coronavirus patients in Ohio hospitals has dropped below recent highs, according to daily surveys by the Ohio Hospital Association.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

The 58,752 cases reported in the last week represented a 10.3% increase from a week ago, increasing from 570,602 to 629,354. The number reported declined each of the last four days, from 11,412, to 9,684, to 8,567, to 8,377 and finally to 6,548 on Monday.

There were 571 deaths reported in the last week, up 7.6% from 7,551 a week ago to 8,122 currently.

The reporting of deaths often lags weeks from when a person died, as state health officials await confirmations from coroners reports. November was the deadliest month to date, claiming at least 1,389 lives. Because of the delays, more recent death data is largely incomplete, but to date 998 deaths occurring in December have been reported.

The state reported 7,271,494 tests to date. This includes 364,448 in the last week.

Testing has dipped recently. During the previous four weeks, there were 405,022, 396,199, 387,155 and 415,682 tests reported.

Fewer coronavirus tests have been conducted in Ohio in recent weeks.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

The health department estimates that 454,354 Ohioans have recovered from COVID-19. This is not based on individual case information, but on the number of cases at least three weeks old that have not resulted in death.

Based on the estimate for recoveries, 166,878 Ohioans currently have the coronavirus, down from a record of 170,486 on Tuesday, Dec. 14.

The estimated number of active coronavirus cases in Ohio has dropped.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

The state is now reporting that the onset of symptoms was as early as January for 173 cases, with nine January cases added in just the last week. The seven earliest cases date to Jan. 2. Just in the last week, the health department added 24 cases from January.

The age range for cases is from under 1 to 111. The median age is 43 for all cases, and 80 for deaths.

The health department last updated the number of deaths for nursing home patients on Wednesday, with a total of 4,361 representing close to 56% of all known COVID-19 deaths in Ohio at that point. This share has dropped in recent months.

For all cases this year, more than three-fourths of the deaths have been to people age 70 and up.

By age group the deaths have broken down this way: under age 20 (4), in their 20s (12), in their 30s (58), in their 40s (111), in their 50s (426), in their 60s (1,097), in their 70s (2,110) and at least 80 years old (4,303). Those 80 and up accounted for 44% of deaths from all causes nationally in 2017.

But for hospitalizations, the cases are more spread out age-wise: under age 20 (719), in their 20s (1,398), in their 30s (1,908), in their 40s (2,813), in their 50s (5,156), in their 60s (7,452), in their 70s (8,221) and at least 80 years old (7,369).

Coronavirus deaths and hospitalizations by age group in Ohio.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

The counties with the most deaths are Cuyahoga (863), Franklin (695) and Lucas (505), with 40 more deaths 38 Cuyahoga, two in Franklin and 22 in Lucas.

For the deaths in which race was reported, 82% of the people are white, and 14% are Black. For total cases, 73% are white and 14% Black. Ohios population is 82% white and 13% Black, census estimates say.

Among all cases reported to date, 35,048 have been hospitalized, including 5,537 in intensive care, up from 32,264 hand 5,209 a week ago.

The counties with the most cases are Franklin (76,188), Cuyahoga (63,047) and Hamilton (47,264). They are the states three largest counties. Cases per capita are shown in the chart at the bottom of this story.

The first three cases were confirmed on March 9. The total topped 100,000 on Aug. 9, 200,000 on Oct. 26, 300,000 on Nov. 16, 400,000 on Nov. 28, 500,000 on Dec. 8 and 600,000 on Friday, Dec. 18.

Here is the growth in the running total of coronavirus cases reported in Ohio from March 9 through Monday, Dec. 21.Rich Exner, cleveland.com

The state on April 10 began new reporting standards to include more types of testing and cases identified from non-testing evidence. This has resulted in 58,550 probable cases being included in the total cases reported for Ohio to date, up from 48,135 a week ago.

Corrections in the data are made from day to day by the state. Sometimes the state has reduced the number of cases in individual counties from one day to the next as corrected residency information is received.

The chart below is based on the most recent case data from the Ohio Department of Health. Cleveland.com calculated the cases per 100,000 rates based on 2019 census population estimates.

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.

Note to readers: There will not be a weekly update published on Dec. 28.

Some mobile users may need to use this link instead to view the county-by-county chart.

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Mapping Ohios 629,354 coronavirus cases; update, trends show drop in hospitalizations and cases - cleveland.com