COVID hospitalizations show signs of improvement, but still remain high

While COVID-19 hospitalizations are declining throughout Ohio and Southwest and West Central Ohio, some hospitals are still treating more patients than they were two months ago.

As of Friday, the state had 4,528 COVID patients in its hospitals, with 529 in West Central Ohio and 849 in Southwest Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Health. Of the 893 COVID patients in the ICU in Ohio, 91 are in West Central Ohio and 172 in Southwest Ohio.

West Central Ohio includes Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Miami, Montgomery, Preble and Shelby counties and Southwest Ohio includes Butler, Warren, Adams, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton and Highland counties.

Compared to last week, coronavirus inpatients have decreased by 15% statewide with West Central and Southwest Ohio reporting 12% and 11% decreases respectively, according to the Ohio Hospital Association. However, in the last 60 days the number of COVID patients hospitalized increased by 101% in West Central Ohio, 82% in Southwest Ohio and 19% throughout the state.

As for ICU patients with the virus, Ohio’s seen a 20% decrease in the last week and a 9% drop compared to 60 days ago, according to OHA. West Central and Southwest Ohio decreased 21% and 13% respectively in the past week, but increased 63% and 34% respectively over the last 60 days.

Ohio added 303 COVID hospitalizations and 30 ICU admissions on Friday, according to the state health department. It’s three-week average is 369 hospitalizations a day and 32 ICU admissions a day.

For the third time this week, the state reported fewer than 10,000 daily COVID cases. Ohio reported 9,440 cases Friday, 9,774 Monday and 9,932 on Sunday. The 4,163 cases reported on Tuesday were artificially low due to an input error. Friday also marked the first time in a week Ohio’s three-week average was fewer than 20,000 cases a day. Over the past three weeks, the state is averaging 19,552 cases day.

Ohio added 582 COVID deaths on Friday, bringing its total to 33,071, according to ODH. It’s 21-day average is 143 deaths a day.

The state updates death data twice a week. Numbers can fluctuate because others states do not regularly report death certificate information to Ohio’s Bureau of Vital Statistics. The day a death is reported does not reflect the day a death occurred.

As of Friday, 61.25% of Ohioans have started the COVID-19 vaccine, including 71.31% of adults and 65.09% of those 5 and older. More than 56% of residents, including 65.95% of adults and 59.81% of people 5 and older, have finished it, according to the state health department.

Nearly 7.16 million people in Ohio have received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine and 6.57 million have completed it. More than 3.23 million Ohioans have received an additional vaccine dose, according to ODH.

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