COLUMBUS – Faced with stagnating vaccination rates and rising cases of COVID-19, Gov. Mike DeWine has announced an incentive for all state employees and their spouses to get their coronavirus vaccines.
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Employees are eligible for a $100 financial incentive and their spouses are eligible to receive a $25 financial incentive.
“State employees and their spouses are encouraged to protect themselves, their families, and their communities by getting a COVID-19 vaccination. Vaccines are the most effective strategy at stopping the spread of COVID-19 and preventing serious illness,” DeWine said.
He urged employers to encourage their employees to get vaccinated through financial incentives, paid leave programs, or other incentives.
Following initial surges when the vaccines became widely available in February and March and another bump after DeWine announced the state’s Vax-A-Million lottery incentive in May, vaccination rates have fallen to less than 10,000 per day on multiple occasions while the number of daily cases of COVID-19 reported to the state has climbed above 1,000 for the first time since mid-May due to the highly contagious delta variant.
The growth in the number of reported cases has been accompanied by increases in the rate of positive tests for the coronavirus and the number of confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in the state.
Slightly more than 49% of eligible Ohioans have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 45.9% are fully vaccinated.
Delaware County leads central Ohio in the percentage of eligible residents who have gotten at least one shot at 63.4%, followed by Franklin County at 53.06% and Union County at 51.8%.
Jobless claims fall 16%
Ohioans filed 10,603 first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week, a 16% drop from the week before, while the total number of initial and continued claims fell by 8%, a sign that the job market continues to recover rapidly from the coronavirus recession.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported the weekly data to the federal government Thursday.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims nationwide dropped by 24,000 to 400,000, but they remain high by historic standards.