Local COVID-19 News

The health department rescinded all the state orders put in place since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, and replaced them with a single five-page document.

Ohio is about 10 days away from receiving its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines. Frontline health care workers, emergency medical personnel and residents and staff at nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other congregate living settings will be the first recipients of the vaccine.

As the third wave of the coronavirus rages through the state and county, the Village of Yellow Springs is cracking down on behaviors that could further spread COVID-19 in town.

On Friday, Nov. 20, nearly 200 demonstrators gathered outside Gov. Mike DeWine’s home in Cedarville Township to protest his and the Ohio Department of Health’s COVID-19-related mandates, including the statewide mask order and the 10 p.m. curfew.

The local health department’s contact tracing team now includes nine people, including employees from the Ohio Department of Health, part of the state’s scaled-up contact tracing workforce.

The governor on Nov. 11 issued a revised mask order for businesses in Ohio with a penalty for non-compliance, as well as indicating that the state would shut down restaurants, bars and fitness centers if COVID-19 spread doesn’t improve by the end of next week.

October brought a whirlwind of bad news about COVID-19 spread in Ohio. New cases soared statewide, hospitalizations increased and more counties than ever flipped to “red” on the state’s COVID-19 heat map.

Indoor visitation is suspended at Friends Care Community until further notice due to COVID-19 increases in Greene County.

Last Thursday, Oct. 15, Ohio elevated Greene County to “red” on the Ohio Health Advisory System for the first time since the system was put in place in early July. The state flagged four different indicators of increased COVID-19 spread here, out of a seven-indicator risk profile.

COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the county. The virus was slow to take hold here, but the county saw a spike in June, a larger spike in July, some moderating in August and a surge beginning in late August that hasn’t let up.

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