Coronavirus: Travel to Ohio, 13 other states discouraged

Ohio is on its own travel advisory list for the fifth straight week as COVID-19 cases remain high in the state and through the nation.

The latest travel advisory issued Wednesday urges Ohioans to avoid travel to neighbors Kentucky and Pennsylvania, which also are on the list of states with positivity rates of 15% or higher. The positivity rate represents the percentage of people who test positive for the coronavirus compared to the overall number tested during the past seven days.

The list includes Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. Idaho has the highest positivity rate at 59%. Ohio and Kentucky have positivity rates of 16%.

Many states are showing reporting anomalies following the recent holidays, so any travel should be carefully considered due to widespread transmission across most of the country, the ODH warned.

Anyone traveling to Ohio from a state on the travel advisory should self-quarantine for 14 days.

While quarantining, monitor yourself for a fever or other signs of coronavirus, such as a cough, difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, loss of taste or smell, sore throat congestion, runny nose, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

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