Coronavirus: Montgomery County back up to ‘level 3′

Montgomery County was the only county to move up to level 3 “red alert” status in the Ohio Public Health Advisory System.

Clark County dropped down to level 2, Preble County remained at level 3 and the remainder of the Miami Valley stayed at level 2, Gov. Mike DeWine reported during his Thursday briefing on the coronavirus.

Last week was the first time Montgomery County was at level 2 since the state in early July launched the color-coded public health advisory system.

“Reducing the spread of COVID-19 will not be a short-term process,” said Dan Suffoletto, spokesman for Public Health – Dayton & Montgomery County. “We will need to maintain our commitment to practicing measures that will help reduce the spread, including; isolating yourself if you have COVID, wearing a mask in public, keeping a physical distance from others, avoiding gatherings of people and washing your hands frequently.”

The red level 3 status indicates “very high exposure and spread” of the coronavirus.

From Aug. 16 to 22, Montgomery County went from 36.9 cases per day to 45, DeWine said. There has been 538 cases reported in the last two weeks.

Overall, Montgomery County has had 5,301 positive COVID-19 cases resulting in 727 hospitalizations and 120 deaths,according to Ohio Department of Health data. The ODH also reports 4,304 presumed recoveries.

This week marked the fewest number of red counties in the state, DeWine said. Seventy-six counties remained at the same level as last week, which is the least amount of movement Ohio has seen.

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