COLUMBUS – Franklin County Public Health expects to receive about twice the number of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Moderna this week as the county teeters on the brink of returning to Level 4 status on Ohio’s Health Advisory system (see map, above).
The agency will get an additional 3,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine, county health commissioner Joe Mazzola said.
Nearly 452,000 residents of Franklin County have received at least their first dose of the vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, according to data from the Ohio Department of Health.
The state has put Franklin County on the “watch list,” in danger of being upgraded from Level 3 to Level 4 due to a sustained increase in cases and in COVID-19 related healthcare use, including emergency department and outpatient visits, and hospitalizations, “a stark reminder that the virus is still here, and we are not out of the woods yet,” Mazzola said.
“As more of our residents get vaccinated, we all need to continue wearing masks properly, keeping a safe distance and avoid large gatherings. We know these measures work, we just need to stick to it,” he said.
The state reported that there were 294 more active cases of COVID-19 in Franklin County on Sunday than on Tuesday and the total number of cases had increased by 190 since Saturday. There were 217.9 cases per 100,000 population in the county Thursday, 15th highest in the state.
Health officials blame new variants of the coronavirus for the increase in cases in Ohio and other states.
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There had been 1,039,455 COVID-19 cases statewide since the pandemic began with 1,855 new cases reported on Sunday.
More than 2.6 million Ohioans, over 22% of the state’s population, have been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The state reported 31 new hospital admissions and there were 1,162 patients being treated for COVID-19 in Ohio hospitals Sunday. A total of 54,078 people have been hospitalized during the pandemic.
The state’s seven-day average positivity rate was 4.6%.
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Ohioans filed 44,985 initial jobless claims during the week that ended on April 3, 17% fewer than the week before, according to statistics the state reported to the U.S. Department of Labor Thursday.
There were 10% fewer claims for continued traditional and extended benefits.