Photo: CDC/Dr. Fred Murphy, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Public Health; public domain.
COVID Update | Aug. 18, 2022
- Published: August 18, 2022
For the sixth week in a row, Greene County is listed as having a “high” community level for COVID-19 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, according to its most recent weekly update, Thursday, Aug. 11.
The CDC continues to recommend that residents of counties listed as having a high community level for the disease wear a mask indoors in public places, stay up to date with vaccines and get tested if symptoms appear.
Greene County is among 55 other counties in the state with a high designation amid the spread of the highly contagious Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.
While all counties in the state are listed as having medium or high community levels for the virus, the executive director of the Ohio Department of Health, Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, said last week that the latest surge appears to have “met its peak or leveled off” in Ohio.
• The latest data released Thursday, Aug. 11, by the Ohio Department of Health, or ODH, shows a second week of decreasing new case numbers in Greene County. For the week of Aug. 4–10, Greene County reported 374 new COVID-19 cases, compared to 469 the week before. The 45387 ZIP code accounted for eight of the most recent week’s new cases, compared to 18 the prior week.
• New coronavirus-related hospital admissions in Greene County numbered two for the week of Aug 4–10, compared to 11 the week before. The county reported no new COVID-19 deaths for a fourth week in a row. The county’s total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic is 519.
• Consistent with the decrease in new cases and hospitalizations, Greene County also reported another decrease in the number of new cases per 100,000 residents over a two-week period, with 436.8 as of Aug. 11, compared to 538.7 the week before. Greene County’s latest numbers put it 42nd in the state. Pike County, in southern Ohio, was at the top, with 900.2 per 100,000 residents; and Holmes County, in the east central part of the state, remained at the bottom, with 106.9. The state’s 88-county average of new cases per 100,000 residents over a two-week period dropped from 441.6, reported Aug. 4, to 436.8, reported Aug. 11.
• The statewide total of new cases for Aug. 4–10 was 26,016, compared to 27,794 for the week of July 28–Aug. 3.
• Ohio’s number of new hospitalizations also dropped, moving from 679, for July 28–Aug. 3, to 608, for Aug. 4–10. However, total COVID-19 hospitalizations across the state as of Aug. 11 were higher than the week before, rising from 1,281 to 1,318.
• The number of COVID-related deaths in the state reported Aug. 4–10 was 87, compared to 98 the week before. As of Aug. 11, the total number of coronavirus deaths in Ohio since the beginning of the pandemic was 39,220.
• Free rapid antigen tests continue to be available through the U.S. Post Office. Every household is eligible to order three sets of four at-home tests online, at http://www.covidtests.gov, or by calling toll-free at 800-232-0233.
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