“Cases were dropping for a while and have leveled out -- but we’ll have to keep watching this,” Gov. Mike DeWine said Monday. “Some neighboring states are starting to see increases in their cases again.”
Though cases are hovering around 1,500 a day, state officials are monitoring COVID variants and their presence in the region.
ODH Chief Medical Officer Bruce Vanderhoff said Tuesday that Ohio has 173 variant cases. Two weeks ago the state only had 32.
Ohio recorded 42 deaths on Tuesday for a total of 18,382. Because the state is using death certificate data to report COVID deaths, Ohio is only updating death data twice a week.
Hospitalizations increased by 142 and ICU admissions by 12. Throughout the pandemic, Ohio has recorded 52,349 total hospitalizations and 7,351 ICU admissions.
As of Tuesday, 2,883,634 people in Ohio have starting the vaccination process and 1,631,464 have finished the vaccine.
Tuesday ODH Director Stephanie McCloud signed amended public health orders updating guidelines on visitation at nursing homes and assisted-living centers. Under the new guidance all facilities meeting Ohio’s safety criteria are required to offer visitations and residents will be able to have visits in their private rooms.
Vaccinated residents will also be able to hug and have physical contact with visitors while wearing a mask.
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