COVID hospitalizations remain high as Ohio fights omicron wave

Ohio is continuing to see a large number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 as the state battles with hospital staffing shortages and a demand in testing amid the omicron surge.

As of Thursday 6,607 people hospitalized in Ohio had coronavirus, with 1,228 COVID patients in the ICU and 862 on ventilators, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

More than 101,000 total people have been hospitalized with COVID in Ohio during the pandemic, with 416 hospitalizations reported in the last day. The state added 33 ICU admissions, bringing it’s total to 12,191, according to the state health department.

In the past three weeks, Ohio averaged 336 COVID hospitalizations a day and 31 ICU admissions a day.

One in three patients in Ohio’s hospitals and ICUs have COVID-19, according to the Ohio Hospital Association. In the past week, the percentage of COVID patients hospitalized in the state remained flat while it decreased by 8% in ICUs. In the last three weeks, Ohio saw an increase of 42% in inpatients with the virus and a 2% increase in ICUs.

The state saw a bigger increase compared to 60 days ago, with hospitalization COVID patients up 144% and the number of people admitted to the ICU with the virus up 64%.

Ohio also recorded its highest transmission rate in at least seven months. The state reported 1,883.8 cases per 100,000 people over the last two weeks. That’s more than 18 times the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s definition of a high transmission rate. In early July, Ohio’s transmission rate got as low as 19.2 cases per 100,000 people.

In recent weeks counties in Northern Ohio had the highest transmission rates in the state, but as the omicron variant continues to spread through the state counties in Southwest Ohio are moving up the list. Erie County had the highest transmission rate with 2,658 cases per 100,000 people, with Hamilton County second in the state with 2,559.2 cases per 100,000. Warren, Butler and Montgomery counties were also among the 20 counties with the highest transmission rate.

According to ODH, area counties reported the following transmission rates:

  • Warren County: 2,123.2 cases per 100,000 people
  • Butler County: 1,959.6 cases per 100,000 people
  • Montgomery County: 1,944.6 cases per 100,000 people
  • Clark County: 1,872 cases per 100,000 people
  • Miami County: 1,661.9 cases per 100,000 people
  • Greene County: 1,453.2 cases per 100,000 people
  • Champaign County: 1,334.7 cases per 100,000 people
  • Darke County: 1,281.5 cases per 100,000 people
  • Preble County: 1,164.3 cases per 100,000 people

Ohio recorded 19,262 cases in the last day and is averaging 17,603 cases a day over the last three weeks. In the past two weeks daily cases have remained higher than 18,000 every day.

As of Thursday, 60.61% of Ohioans have started the COVID-19 vaccine, including 70.75% of adults and 65.42% of people ages 5 and older. More than 55.5% of residents, including 65.48% of adults and 59.16% of those 5 and older, have completed the vaccine.

Nearly 7.085 million Ohioans have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 6.5 million have finished their vaccination, according to ODH. More than 3 million people in the state have received an additional dose of the vaccine.

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