COLUMBUS – A year after being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ohio State Fair will be held in July, but officials say the focus will be on agricultural and educational competitions and will not be open to the general public.
Midway rides, concerts, entertainers, live music, food vendors, shopping and other things typically associated with the fair are expected to return in 2022, fair officials said Thursday in a release.
The Fair will not be open to the public, and will be limited to exhibitors, their families, and guests, stretching the Fair over a longer period of time with an anticipated start date of July 19. This decision will not only help to protect the health and safety of Ohioans, it will also protect the long-term financial viability of the fair. –statement from Ohio Expositions Commission
The fair will be open to exhibitors and family members for youth and senior livestock competitions, along with educational project judging for non-livestock competitions, such as 4-H, and will conclude with a modified Sale of Champions livestock auction.
The 2022 Ohio State Fair is scheduled for July 27-August 7.
While virus cases and hospitalizations in Ohio begin to rise again, Gov. Mike DeWine says he remains optimistic of the state goal to remove health orders by July 4.
Data shows that over the past two weeks the rolling average number of daily new cases has increased by more than 20% and the state is averaging 1,483 current COVID-19 hospitalizations. There were 1,193 patients being treated for COVID-19 in Ohio hospitals Thursday.
Health experts like Ohio chief medical officer Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff blame this spike on the emerging variants of the coronavirus in the U.S. that are proving to be more deadly and contagious.
Two weeks ago, Ohio’s cases per 100,000 people were 146.9. As of Thursday, the number had increased to 183.7 per 100,000. DeWine has said health orders would be lifted if the rate of cases fell to 50 per 100,000 for two weeks.
“We are moving in the wrong direction from our statewide goal of 50 cases per 100,000 people We are not seeing the runaway case growth we saw during the fall yet, so we can still turn this around if more people continue to get vaccinated and we continue to mask and social distance,” DeWine said.
The increases in case rates are reflected in this week’s Ohio Public Health Advisory System map (see above). New health data compiled by the Ohio Department of Health shows case increases in 53 counties over the past week.
Franklin County moved to the watch list following sustained increases in cases and in COVID-related healthcare use including emergency department and outpatient visits and hospitalizations for COVID.
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As of Thursday, 1 in 3 Ohioans had gotten at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 2,371,462, or 20.29% of the state’s population, had been completely vaccinated.
The state reported 2,742 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total number of cases since the onset if the pandemic to 1,033,606 with 53,841 hospitalizations and over 18,000 deaths.
The seven-day average positivity rate was 4.4%.