Coronavirus: 135,326 total cases, 4,403 deaths reported in Ohio

There have been 135,326 total cases of coronavirus and 4,403 deaths reported in Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

Nearly 50 deaths were reported in the last day, double the 21-day average of 21.

Daily cases were also up, with 1,240 added Friday compared to the average 1,061.

Hospitalizations increased by 72 for a total of 14,236. There were 11 ICU admissions reported Friday, bringing the total to 3,081.

The state is reporting 13,053 presumed recoveries.

On Thursday, Gov. Mike DeWine announced that the new state health department director would be Dr. Joan Duwve. Hours later, the governor said that the Ohio native had withdrawn her name from consideration for the position due to personal reasons.

His office will continue its search for the next ODH director.

Testing at universities continue to impact cases throughout Ohio, including Butler, Montgomery and Clark counties.

Both Butler and Montgomery counties are at level 3 for the second week in a row and were among the 10 counties with the highest number of new cases by population in the last two weeks.

Wittenberg University President Michael Frendsen joined DeWine’s Thursday coronavirus update to discuss how the university is working to prevent the spread of the virus.

The university is going to remote instruction for two weeks and is encouraging students to stay on campus to keep the virus from spreading to other communities. As of Friday, there are 86 active cases at the school.

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