COVID-19 Alert - December 7
By the Numbers:
Individuals Tested: 6,502,024
88 counties with at least one case
Ages range from less than one year old to 109 years of age, with a median age of 42
State of Ohio COVID-19 dashboard: https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/home/dashboard
Total Cases: 484,297 (33,130 of which are health care workers)
Case Increase in Last 24-Hour Period: 9,273
21 Day Reported Case Average: 8,521
Total Deaths: 7,022
Deaths Reported in Last 24-Hour Period: 63
21 Day Reported Death Average: 61
Total Hospitalizations: 29,569 (4,943 of which are in the intensive care unit)
Hospitalization Increase in last 24-Hour Period: 336
21 Day Reported Hospitalizations Average: 338
Changes to Antigen Test Reporting and Anticipated One-Day Spike:
Governor DeWine discussed the Ohio Department of Health aligning with the Center of Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) current case definition. In August, the CDC changed the case definition of antigen testing to include case counts without additional verification. Ohio has continued to manually verify an epidemiological link, such as a known positive contact, with an antigen positive test result.
Tomorrow, December 8, the department will begin including antigen tests without an epidemiological link in the total case count. This will result in a one-day spike in reported cases from pending positive antigen cases.
Not all pending cases will be translated into new cases. Cases will be checked and duplicate records will be removed. Cases will also be assigned to their appropriate onset date.
K-12 Education Update:
The Ohio Department of Education continues to report limited spread of COVID-19 in a classroom setting, but an increase of community spread from informal gatherings outside of school. Governor DeWine explained that once community spread is under control, schools will feel safe going back to in-person instruction.
The department also tracks how many districts are hosting in-person, hybrid, or remote learning.
DataOhio Portal Launch:
Lt. Governor Husted announced the launch of the DataOhio Portal, which delivers datasets and interactive visualizations to Ohioans. This portal delivers unprecedented access through an innovative, data-sharing platform for state agencies and their partners.