Putnam now seeing five times CDC high incidence rate

Putnam County's new coronavirus cases are now nearly five times what the CDC defines as high incidence. The county again leads the state in virus incidence, according to information released by Gov. Mike DeWine at his Tuesday afternoon press conference. With 166 new cases over the past two weeks and a county population of 33,861, Putnam County had 490.2 new cases per 100,000 people. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define "high incidence" as 100 cases per 100,000 people. The Putnam County Health Department said on Facebook Tuesday afternoon that it had been "very busy in the last week with an extremely high number of positive COVID-19 cases reported to the health department. We are working hard to conduct investigations and contact tracing with the numerous cases that are received. If you have been notified by your healthcare provider that you are positive, it is important to isolate and to let your close contacts know that they should quarantine." The health department also asked the community to help reduce the spread by avoiding large gatherings, staying home if you are feeling ill, wearing a mask when in public, practicing social distancing and washing hands frequently. Allen County ranks sixth in the state with 335.1 new cases per 100,000 people. Statewide, 69 out of 88 counties are now high incidence, DeWine said. "These numbers will not change unless we change," he said. The virus is now spreading "virtually everywhere" in the state, DeWine said. On Tuesday the state reported 2,015 new cases. DeWine pointed out that not long ago we were averaging around 1,000 new cases each day. There were 216 new hospitalizations statewide in the past 24 hours, the highest ever, and more people with the virus are now in hospital beds than ever, DeWine said. The state recorded eight more deaths and 36 intensive care unit admissions. Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said at the press conference that on Monday he had called around to many of the hardest-hit counties to talk about how to address the problem at the local level. Husted said networks of nonprofits or businesses, as well as local governments, could play a role — for example, a business might educate its employees about how to protect themselves from the virus after they leave work. Dr. Andrew Thomas, chief clinical officer at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, spoke about how Ohio's hospitals are working together to address the pandemic and prepare for the near future. Thomas said the strategy includes keeping patients who do not need more specialized care in rural county hospitals, while transferring patients who do to bigger hospitals. He said a concern is that we haven't yet seen the number of hospitalizations, or cases, peak, which causes "anxiety" among hospital leaders. Thomas said Ohio's hospitals are well equipped to handle the current number of cases being hospitalized, but the concern lies in the possibility the numbers do not start to come down soon. DeWine said he recently spoke to a legislator from a rural area who said in two rural counties in his district, people had not been wearing masks previously, but they were doing so now more than they had been. DeWine urged people to take wearing a mask seriously. "It's only a mask," he said, pointing out that many people have made far more "huge" sacrifices for their country. He also said it's important for people to wear a mask when they go to the polls. "Poll workers, I worry a lot about," as they will be spending at least 13 hours on Election Day directly exposed to the public, he said. DeWine said some children may do fine with remote learning, but many of them fare better when they're in school. But at least 16 districts in the state recently scaled back to hybrid or fully remote learning because of increasing spread in their communities. It's the action of the larger community that determines what is possible in schools, he said, and "we owe it to our children" to take steps, like wearing masks, to prevent the virus' spread. "There is so much — so much — at stake," he said.