Wyandot County second in Ohio in virus incidence

COLUMBUS — Wyandot County is now second in the state in COVID-19 incidence, down from being the worst in the state in last week's figures released by the Ohio Department of Health. With 1,015.1 cases per 100,000 residents from Dec. 15-28, and an actual case count of 221 and a population of 21,772, Wyandot County is second in the state in COVID-19 incidence, according to numbers released by the state Wednesday. ODH noted that every county in Ohio now exceeds the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's threshold for high incidence, which is 100 cases per 100,000 residents. Case incidence is a measure of how many cases there are in each county, adjusted for population. This information can be used by Ohioans to understand the severity of COVID-19 transmission by county. At the beginning of November, the statewide average of cases per capita during the previous two weeks was at 258. As of this week's update, the statewide average is 658 cases per 100,000 residents during the past two weeks. There also are 71 counties that are at 500 or more, which means that at least 1 out of every 200 residents has tested positive for COVID-19 during the past two weeks, ODH says. ODH released the Public Health Advisory System map on Thursday, indicating that 84 counties in the state are red and just four (Hocking, Vinton, Gallia and Monroe) are orange. The department of health notes that the Public Health Advisory System was designed as an early warning system to measure when cases and hospitalization were escalating. Today, those measures are all at an elevated plateau and the advisory system does not accurately reflect the sustained high levels, ODH says. Additionally at the beginning of November, about 15% of Ohio's intensive care unit patients were COVID-19 positive, or 1 out of every 7. Now, that number is at 31%, meaning that 1 out of every 3 ICU patients is COVID-19 positive. ODH warns that the current impact on the health care system is severe and unsustainable. More information can be found at coronavirus.ohio.gov