COVID-19 Alert - July 9, 2020

By the Numbers:

• 911,905 individuals tested

• 60,181 total cases, 7,799 of which are health care workers

• 2,991 deaths

• 8,489 hospitalizations, 2,127 of which are in the intensive care unit

• 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 45

• State of Ohio COVID-19 dashboard: https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/home/dashboard

A Closer Look at the Numbers:

• Governor DeWine reminded Ohioans that the coronavirus reported numbers are lagging indicators. Noting that we can expect to see hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths increase a few weeks after cases increase.

• Patients in hospitals: On June 26, there were 619 COVID-19 patients in hospitals around the state. Since then, we have increased to 905 hospitalizations. The below chart shows how Ohio is steadily increasing in hospitalizations during the last few weeks. 

• Testing and positivity rates: Ohio is seeing a “weekend effect” where the number of tests reported on Saturday and Sunday are generally lower than the numbers reported on weekdays. The positivity rate reported for July 7 was 6.4%, which is Ohio’s highest positivity rate since May 25.

County Level Risk Alerts:

• 12 counties have triggered enough indicators to be at red alert level 3. Three of those counties, Butler, Cuyahoga, Hamilton, are on the “watch list,” meaning they are close to and/or have reached level 4. 

• Franklin County dropped off the watch list as a result in the decreased number of residents being admitted to the hospital, though they still remain at red alert level 3.

Counties on the Watch List:

• Counties on the watch list either meet the criteria to be classified as purple alert level 4, the highest risk level, or are close to reaching that level. The Governor will wait one week before to see if there is any improvement before moving them to purple alert level 4.

• Hamilton County 

  • Between June 24 and June 30, they had 1,124 cases reported, the largest number of coronavirus weekly cases since the beginning of the pandemic. From June 16 until June 30, the average new cases per day doubled from 82 to 161.

  • From June 16 and June 30, visits to the ER for COVID-19 doubled from an average of 11 per day to 22 per day. Between June 16 and July 2, the average outpatient visits more than tripled from 52 to 172 visits per day.

  • In recent weeks, over 86% of the cases are not in congregate settings, signaling significant transmission in the broader community. They also hit a new threshold for the overall utilization rate for regional ICU beds, which exceeded 80% in 5 of the last 7 days.

• Butler County 

  • Between June 24 and June 30, they had 181 cases reported, the largest number of COVID-19 weekly cases reported since the beginning of the pandemic. From June 16 until July 3, the average new cases per day doubled from 15 to 29.

  • From June 16 to July 4, visits to the ER for COVID-19 tripled from an average of 2 per day to 7 per day. Between June 16 and July 7, the average outpatient visits more than doubled from 15 to 38 visits per day.

  • They also hit a new threshold for the overall utilization rate for regional ICU beds, which exceeded 80% during 5 of the last 7 days.

• Cuyahoga County 

  • Between June 24 and June 30, they’ve had 999 cases reported, the largest number of COVID-19 weekly cases reported since the beginning of the pandemic. From June 16 until June 28, the average new cases per day more than doubled from 66 to 151.

  • From June 16 to July 1, visits to the ER for coronavirus more than doubled from an average of 19 per day to 50. Over the same time period, the average number of outpatient visits with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses increased from 41 to 233.

  • The average hospital admissions per day more than doubled from 7 on June 16 to 20 on July 2. Most of the cases in Cuyahoga County were in non-congregate settings during the last three weeks.

Guidance to Re-Open Colleges and Universities:

• Today, Governor DeWine released re-opening guidance to institutions of higher education, which can be found here: https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/static/responsible/Higher-Education.pdf, as well as guidance regarding COVID-19 testing at institutions of higher education, found here: https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/static/responsible/COVID-19-Testing-Institutions-Higher-Education.pdf.

• The guidance, created by the Ohio Department of Education in consultation with colleges, universities and health care experts, includes minimum operating standards that should occur on all campuses, as well as best practices to further enhance those standards.

• Utilizing the guidance, each campus must develop their own policies and procedures for testing and isolation of symptomatic students, faculty, and staff members. Testing of symptomatic individuals should take priority over all other testing tactics.

• To help address the increased costs educational institutions will incur as a result of coronavirus preparations, the Governor worked with legislative leaders to develop a plan to provide additional funding. 

• As a starting point, the state is requesting that the Controlling Board allocate $200 M to institutions of higher education and $100 M to K - 12 schools from the Coronavirus Relief Fund, which comes from federal CARES Act dollars. The Governor hopes to allocate additional money in the future. He intends for the monies to be flexibly used, for example, providing connectivity to students or extra personal protective equipment to employees.  

• The funding will be available to all K – 12 public and private schools, as well as private and public two- and four-year institutions of higher education and adult career tech centers.

• He also noted that the new funding to schools is in addition to the previously provided CARES Act funding of $440 M to K - 12 schools and $190 M to colleges and universities.

$2.5 M Grant for Job Training:

• Lt. Governor Husted announced the launch of the Individual Micro-credential Assistance Program (IMAP), which will provide a $2.5M grant to help unemployed Ohioans earn in-demand, tech-focused credentials, giving them a leg-up in finding a job in the increasingly tech-infused economy.

• This grant application is open to training providers, such as universities, colleges, Ohio technical centers, or private sector training businesses. Training providers interested in applying can find more information at http://IMAP.Development.Ohio.gov. The deadline for training providers to apply is July 24. There will be a later announcement about how individuals can apply for the grant.

SharedWork Program Enhanced:

• On July 2, Governor DeWine signed an order to allow the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services to draw down federal monies for the SharedWork program, which is a layoff aversion program that allows workers to remain employed, and employers to retain trained staff, during times of reduced business activity.

• Specifically, the program allows participating employers to reduce the affected employees’ hours by a uniform percentage, between 10% and 50%, for up to 52 weeks. In return, those employees receive SharedWork compensation (which is a prorated unemployment benefit).

• And, while federally available, employees may also receive the Pandemic Unemployment Compensation benefit each week. Since March 15, ODJFS approved 909 employers to participate in 1,680 SharedWork Ohio plans, benefiting 46,352 participating employees.

$15 M Pledged Toward Housing:

• As a reminder, in April the state provided $1 M to the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO) which helped hundreds of Ohioans become safely housed during the pandemic. Today, he announced an additional $15 million grant to COHHIO to ensure Ohioans can maintain their housing during this time.

Recovered Patients Encouraged to Donate Plasma:

• Convalescent plasma, which is plasma from recovered patients, is rich in antibodies that could possibly attack the virus that causes COVID-19. It shows promise to lessen the severity or shorten the length of COVID-19. 

• Accordingly, the state is encouraging people who have been fully recovered from coronavirus for at least two weeks to consider donating plasma.

• For more information or to sign up to donate, visit http://redcrossblood.org/plasma4covid or contact a local blood donor or plasma collection center.