Vinton County officials confirm COVID-19 cases; all 88 counties in Ohio affected

By: Tyler Buchanan - April 25, 2020 4:10 pm

This is the county map that stood for 12 days, with Vinton County being the only in Ohio without a confirmed case of COVID-19. A local nurse says she has tested positive, which appears to end that status.

Note: This story has been updated to include health department confirmation and correct the number of cases confirmed.

The Vinton County Health Department has confirmed two local cases of the coronavirus, ending the county’s 11-day run as the only one in Ohio without a confirmed case.

The health department confirmed the cases on Saturday evening. A local nurse had confirmed to the Ohio Capital Journal she had tested positive earlier in the evening.

Both individuals were tested elsewhere, as Vinton County does not have a hospital or other available testing means. County-by-county data has typically involved reporting the cases of residents in each county, not necessarily where they were tested.

The nurse told the Capital Journal she works for a Columbus-area nursing home and was tested at a drive-thru facility in Columbus.

“We have contacted the patients and the individuals potentially exposed and they have been given instructions to self-isolate and monitor for symptoms,” the health department stated in a news release.

The county health department reports 29 other residents have tested negative and there are several outstanding tests still pending.

“I’m really sad we aren’t Covid free anymore,” the nurse told the Capital Journal.

Vinton and Harrison counties were the only two left on April 14 without a confirmed case of COVID-19, but the first Harrison County case was reported that evening.

Vinton County has been alone since that date. The first confirmed case in the state of Ohio was reported on March 9 in Cuyahoga County.

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Tyler Buchanan

Tyler Buchanan is an award-winning journalist who has covered Ohio politics and government for the past decade. A Bellevue native and graduate of Bowling Green State University, he most recently spent 6 1/2 years as a reporter and editor of The Athens Messenger and Vinton-Jackson Courier newspapers. He is a member of the BG News Alumni Society Board and was a 2019 fellow in the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism.