COLUMBUS – Although health officials are warning of a possible surge in COVID-19 cases in the U.S. due to variant strains of the coronavirus from the United Kingdom and South Africa, the number of newly-diagnosed cases in Ohio have been on the decline.
For the first time since October, the state reported fewer than 2,000 new cases Monday.
The 1,926 cases brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Ohio to 922,143.
Franklin County Public Health allowed a stay-at-home order to expire over the weekend due to declining numbers of new cases. There were 175 new cases reported Monday with no newly reported deaths or hospitalizations and the county’s “R0” number is 0.8, meaning that, on average, each infected person passes the disease on to less than one other person.
There were 2,012 Ohioans hospitalized with the virus on Monday, the seventh straight day with fewer than 2,500 patients occupying hospital beds.
Governor Mike DeWine said if the number remains below 2,500 for seven straight days as of Thursday, the state will lift a nighttime curfew that has been in place for several weeks.
There were 36 additional deaths reported in the state, bringing the total number of Ohioans who have died since the pandemic began to 11,695. The total number of individuals who have been hospitalized is 47,672. Coronavirus patients currently occupy 7.36% of the state’s hospital beds.
Ohio’s seven-day positivity rate has fallen to 6.6%.
There are currently 81,993 active cases of COVID-19 in the state.
A total of 1.06 million Ohioans, or about 9% of the state’s population, have received the first of two vaccine doses while 311,669 have completed the process, 2.7% of the total population.