More than 600 daily cases of COVID reported in Ohio for first time this month

More than 600 cases of the coronavirus were reported in a day for the first in more than three weeks in Ohio.

The state reported 660 cases Monday, the highest number recorded in July, according to the latest Ohio Department of Health data. Ohio’s 21-day average climbed to 330 cases day, half of the state’s daily case count.

However, the ODH said a technical issue that has been corrected prevented a small number of cases from being counted over the past several weeks and is behind the elevation in reported cases change over the last 24 hours. None of the cases initially uncounted were in the region. The cases mentioned in the disclaimer go back to March and included 242 cases, an ODH spokesperson said.

Since the pandemic began, 1,117,769 cases have been recorded in Ohio, according to ODH.

State health officials are monitoring the recent increase in cases after weeks of COVID declining in Ohio.

ODH Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said last week that the cause of the increase in cases isn’t clear, but noted the delta variant will likely take over the alpha variant as Ohio’s dominant strain of the virus.

“The good news is our current vaccines are effective against the delta variant,” he said. “The bad news is if you’re not fully vaccinated you’re at real risk for serious illness, including hospitalization or death.”

As of Monday, 5,666,991 people in Ohio have received at least one dose the coronavirus vaccine and 5,311,703 have completed it.

More than 48% of Ohioans have started the vaccine and nearly 45.5% of residents have finished it, according to ODH.

The state reported 35 hospitalizations Monday, just over the 21-day average of 32.

There were four ICU admissions reported in the last day in Ohio. The state is averaging four ICU admissions a day over the last three weeks.

About the Author