Ohio tops 20,000 cases for third time in week | News, Sports, Jobs

Staff photo / R. Michael Semple
Brayden Heflin, 7, of Warren, reacts after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination Tuesday at the Eastwood Mall from Lindsay Adams of Lordstown, a registered nurse with the Trumbull County Combined Health District. The next walk-in vaccine clinic is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the mall, across from Auntie Anne’s Pretzels. Another will be held 10 a.m. to noon Saturday.

Ohio exceeded 20,000 new daily COVID-19 cases for the third time in the past seven days and hit a record high number of those hospitalized with the virus.

Tuesday, 20,411 COVID-19 cases were reported. It’s the second most for a single day during the pandemic. The only day with a higher total was Friday when 20,598 cases were reported.

Also, Tuesday marked the third time the state exceeded 20,000 COVID-19 cases in the last seven days with 20,320 cases reported Dec. 29. The Ohio Department of Health combined last Saturday and Sunday into one number, 37,626, in its Sunday count as it didn’t provide data Saturday because it was New Year’s Day.

Ohio never had more than 20,000 COVID-19 cases in a single day during the nearly two-year-long pandemic until Dec. 29.

The 76,979 cases reported for the first four days of January already are more than the total reported in the entire months of February, March, April, May, June or July 2021, as well as any single month in 2020 except November and December.

As of Tuesday, 2,093,074 COVID-19 cases have been reported in Ohio since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

Also Tuesday, Ohio had a record 6,257 patients in hospitals with COVID-19, including 708 new cases that day.

Ohio has set new records every day since Dec. 26 for most people in hospital beds with COVID-19.

It has increased steadily with only 5,238 people in hospitals in Ohio with COVID-19 on Dec. 28, just seven days before Tuesday.

Of the 6,257 in hospitals in Ohio with COVID-19 on Tuesday, 1,305 were in intensive care units. That’s down slightly from 1,308 Monday. It was 1,198 on Dec. 28, seven days before Tuesday.

Ohio’s COVID-19 hospitalization rate is among the highest in the country.