Ohio posts most COVID-19 cases for second time in a week

The Ohio Department of Health reported 2,039 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, breaking the state’s previous single-day record of 1,840 reported Friday, Oct. 9.

Data released Wednesday also show 1,041 Ohioans are currently hospitalized with the disease, just shy of the all-time high of 1,144, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project.

1,042 Ohioans are in the hospital right now with COVID-19. All time high is 1,144. pic.twitter.com/Wi4aHvKfjZ

— Jake Zuckerman (@jake_zuckerman) October 14, 2020

Ohio has now has reported 173,665 total cases, and 5,033 deaths. Before Oct. 9, the highest daily case total was back on July 30, with 1,733 cases reported.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday cautioned that the continuing increase in COVID-19 cases indicates that significant numbers of infections are likely this winter unless citizens take steps to mitigate and control the spread of the virus.

“Although a vaccine is on the way in the future, we can’t control the timetable of the development of a vaccine – but we can control how much this flares up until then,” DeWine said. “We have avoided the large outbreaks that other countries and other states have seen, and so far, the combined efforts of Ohioans have kept the virus in check. We can’t let our guards down now. We need to continue taking basic safety measures of wearing masks, keeping distance, and avoiding large gatherings.”

In the previous seven days, a release from DeWine said, Ohio COVID-19 cases averaged 1,475 cases per day by report date as compared to an average of approximately 1,000 cases per day two weeks ago.

Ohio’s current positivity rate is 4.1 percent as compared to 2.7 percent on Sept. 23 and 24. A total of 51 counties are considered high incidence and/or Alert Level 3 on Ohio’s Public Health Advisory System, the release said.