COLUMBUS – Governor Mike DeWine delivered a grave warning Thursday as nearly every county in the state was at a high-risk level for coronavirus infections.
“The virus is raging throughout the state of Ohio. There’s no place to hide,” he said during his televised briefing Thursday.
The governor is calling on leaders of each county to create a “COVID defense team,” consisting of county commissioners, mayors, local hospital leaders, health commissioners, business leaders, religious leaders, and other local leaders to assess virus spread in their communities, take inventory of the assets in the community, and determine what steps can slow the spread.
“It is about getting neighbors, friends, leaders in that community saying ‘hey, we don’t want our county ripped apart,” DeWine said, doubling down on a “county-by-county, city-by-city” strategy he unveiled Tuesday.
The Buckeye State is among dozens of other states facing a new wave of virus infections, with Ohio now breaking records previously set when the pandemic first hit in March.
The state reported 3,590 new cases Thursday, far and away the highest single-day total of the pandemic, 25% higher than the second-highest, recorded on Oct. 24, DeWine said. Ohio followed up with another daily record Friday of 3,845 new cases for a total of 212,782 with 5,291 deaths.
The number of Ohioans currently hospitalized with the virus increased by 169 to an all-time high of 1,629.
DeWine said the infection spread is happening mostly in social gatherings and less in bars, businesses and schools.
Dr. Rick Lofgren, of University of Cincinnati Health, blamed the phenomenon known as “COVID fatigue” for causing people to relax their adherence to safety and hygiene guidelines when among family or close friends.
“We all are social animals, we want to increase our bubble and I think people are sort of letting their guard down,” he said.
New data from the Ohio Department of Health found that 43 counties currently have a “very high risk of exposure and spread,” designating them as at Level 3 on the state’s four-tiered Public Health Advisory System. That is compared to 38 “red” counties last week. DeWine says it represents the highest number of Red Level 3 counties since the launch of the advisory system in July and means that 78% of Ohioans are living in a “red level 3” county.