COLUMBUS – Central Ohio’s largest hospital systems began loosening some of their COVID restrictions Thursday as the surge caused by the omicron variant of the coronavirus appeared to be easing.
RELATED: Vaccination rates drop as omicron surge subsides
OhioHealth, Mount Carmel Health Systems and OSU Wexner Medical Center began to allowing patients to receive two visitors, instead of one, as the numbers of new cases in Ohio and the number of patients being treated for the virus in the state’s hospitals continued to decline to seven-month lows.
OhioHealth, which owns Riverside Methodist Hospital, Grant Medical Center and nearly a dozen other hospitals, will allow each patient to select two designated visitors for the duration of their stay, who may visit daily and come and go as needed.
Visitors will be required to wear masks and be asymptomatic. Patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 will be allowed one visitor per day. Emergency departments, surgery and invasive procedure areas will continue to allow one visitor per day.
At the OSU Wexner Medical Center, a patient’s two named visitors must be the same persons throughout the duration of the inpatient stay. No changes are permitted.
Visitors will need to provide a government-issued photo ID, must have no COVID-19 symptoms or recent known exposures and should practice good hand hygiene. Visitors are required to wear a hospital-provided mask.
Mount Carmel patients will be allowed two designated visitors who may visit at the same time as long as they are healthy with no symptoms of illness including respiratory symptoms or fever.
Visitors must be 18 or older, wear a mask and a provided wristband or visitor sticker, check in and check out each time they arrive and depart, complete screening for symptoms and fever, wash hands frequently, maintain social distancing.
Visitors must remain in the patient room and not visit common areas, like the gift shop, or have any physical contact with the patient or visit any COVID-19 or suspected COVID-19 patients.
Unemployment resumes decline
Filings for new unemployment benefits fell for the fifth time in five weeks in Ohio as the number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits fell to a 52-year low.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Thursday that 12,896 Ohioans filed first-time jobless claims for jobless benefits during the week that ended Feb. 19, 15% fewer than the week before.
While the number of continued claims was virtually unchanged, the total number of claims processed by the department declined a modest 3.3%, according to data the agency shared with the U.S. Department of Labor.
The four-week average of initial claims, which compensates for weekly volatility, fell 4% from the previous period.
In total, nearly 1.48 million Americans were collecting jobless aid, the lowest level since March 14, 1970.
Out of the red
State officials have removed Franklin County from the list of counties with the highest rate of community spread of COVID-19.
Franklin County had been designated “red,” for high community transmission, since August. Being downgraded to “orange” on the state’s map indicates there is still substantial community spread.
The Ohio Hospital Association reported Thursday that 1,345 people were being treated for COVID-19, a 72% in 60 days and the lowest number since August.
The state reported 1,323 new cases on Wednesday, a 77% drop since Feb. 3.
Herd immunity unlikely
Experts say it’s not likely that the highly transmissible omicron variant — or any other variant — will lead us closer to herd immunity against COVID-19.
Herd immunity is when enough of a population becomes immune to a particular infection that it’s hard for the germ to spread even to those who aren’t protected by vaccination or a prior infection.
Early hopes of herd immunity against the coronavirus faded for several reasons including new variants, waning immunity and vaccine hesitancy.
Many scientists believe COVID-19 will eventually become like the flu, causing seasonal outbreaks but not huge surges.