COVID-19 update: Cases and hospitalizations continue to escalate
- Published: September 17, 2021
• In a press conference conducted online Thursday, Sept. 9, Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, director of the Ohio Department of Health, offered a sobering appraisal of the ongoing pandemic.
“Unfortunately, the wave of cases and hospitalizations continue to escalate at an alarming rate here in Ohio related to the Delta variant,” Vanderhoff said, noting 6,823 new cases had been reported in the prior 24 hours. The daily figure for new cases had increased by nearly 2,000 to over 8,500 by the weekend.
Vanderhoff said that the Ohio Hospital Association had reported on Sept. 8 that about 3,000 Ohioans were at that time hospitalized with COVID-19, accounting for one out of seven hospitalizations in the state. Of those numbers, 800 COVID patients were being treated in intensive care units.
He added that the hospitalization numbers, “driven largely by unvaccinated” patients, is “putting a dangerous strain on the state’s health care system.”
• Although the state’s daily numbers dropped at the start of the new week, with 5,568 new cases reported Monday, Sept. 13, the seven-day average remained elevated at 6,722, the highest since January. And the 21-day average, as of Thursday, had topped 5,000 cases, Vanderhoff reported, comparing the situation to early July numbers, when the average was at the lowest with between 200 and 300 daily new cases.
• Reflecting the growing case numbers, Ohio’s per 100,000 figures over two weeks also have continued to rise, moving from 472.4 as of Sept. 2 to 582.4 on Sept. 9. In Greene County, where the per 100,000 numbers are significantly higher than the state’s figures, the health department saw a slight decrease from 909.8 to 892.6. High incidence is defined as more than 100 cases per 100,000.
• Weekly totals of new infections in the county, however, have dropped for the second week in a row, from a high of 997 over the last week in August, to 887 for the first week of September, to 687 from Tuesday, Sept. 7, through Monday, Sept. 13. The seven-day moving average in Greene County also continued a gradual drop, from a high of 145.14 new cases per day on Wednesday, Sept. 1 — the highest figure since December 2020, to 112.43 on Monday this week. Over the seven days of Sept. 7–13, the county added 28 hospitalizations, a noticeable rise from eight hospitalizations the week before, and reported three deaths, down from five the previous week.
• Showing a drop in local numbers, the 45387 ZIP code went from a seven-day average of 15.71 new cases on Tuesday, Sept. 7, to 7.71 on Monday, Sept. 13.
• The latest numbers from Yellow Springs Schools, released Friday, show five positive cases among the district’s students, down one from the week before. However, a total of 28 Yellow Springs district students — six more than the previous week — were in quarantine as of Friday. According to the district, none of the quarantines were associated with possible exposure in the schools, and no district teacher has been reported as positive or in quarantine this school year.
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If a person has ‘suspected’ Lupus but not diagnosed yet, do they qualify for a third shot of Moderna or Pfizer as they may be immunocompromised and not even know it or at least not have it on record? Some illnesses take a long time to diagnose. That probably applies to other diseases that people may not be aware of because we don’t know what we don’t know until we know it and our medical history is an evolving factor in the equation of best protection. News Sun featured a Q & A on boosters, but I don’t think this topic was particularly addressed. This is a troubling factor.
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/local/your-questions-about-booster-shots-answered-who-qualifies-and-more/OF2Z6G5ACFA4FOKCOFL5QEVSNU/