COLUMBUS – Starting today, the state is no longer updating COVID-19 data every day as the numbers of new cases and hospitalizations continue to decline.
The Ohio Department of Health will begin reporting case counts, hospitalizations and vaccinations weekly, director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff announced Friday.
“As the days and weeks pass, it becomes increasingly clear that not only are we leaving the omicron surge behind us, but we’re entering a new phase of our experience with COVID-19,” Vanderhoff said during a news briefing on Friday.
“Our experience with CODI-19 is evolving from that of a pandemic to more of an endemic state,” he said.
For the first time since August, the average number of cases statewide has dropped below 100 per 100,000 residents to 78.2 cases as of March 9.
Nearly two-thirds of Ohio’s 88 counties are currently below 100 cases per 100,000 people and all but 10 counties are experiencing low to medium rates of community spread, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines, Vanderhoff said.
The numbers of new and cumulative cases, hospitalizations, ICU admissions and vaccinations will be updated weekly on Thursdays starting March 17.
Data about long-term care facilities will also be published on Thursdays and schools will no longer be required to report positive COVID-19 cases to their local health departments unless the school tests a student for COVID-19 and the result is positive.