COLUMBUS (AP) — Seven of Ohio’s biggest counties have urged residents to stay home and follow guidelines on social gatherings and wearing masks.
The counties said in a joint statement the day before Thanksgiving they want people to only leave home for work, school, medical appointments, or buying essential items such as groceries.
The counties are Franklin, Cuyahoga, Hamilton, Summit, Montgomery, Lucas and Mahoning.
Ohio’s seven-day rolling average of daily new cases has risen over the past two weeks to 8,495 new cases per day.
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Montgomery, Lake and Lorain counties moved to the highest risk level — purple or level 4 — of the state public health advisory system (above). Franklin County remains at the highest risk level for the second week.
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Ohio reported 10,835 new daily cases of COVID-19 Wednesday, a figure possibly inflated due to an influx of data delayed by backups in laboratory reporting and collection by the state health department.
The total number of Ohioans diagnosed with the disease since the pandemic began was 382,743 with 6,274 deaths and 25,486 hospitalizations. There were 134,323 active cases and 4,541 patients in hospitals Wednesday, occupying 16.6% of the state’s inpatient capacity.