COLUMBUS – The number of Ohioans who filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits spiked last week, evidence that the resurgent COVID-19 virus has caused an increase in layoffs.
Though it was only 13% of the number filed at the peak in the spring of 2020, the 37,309 initial jobless claims filed was the second straight weekly increase and was 26% higher than the week before, according to statistics the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported to the U.S. Department of Labor Thursday.
The 2.1 million initial jobless claims filed in Ohio over the last 43 weeks was more than the combined total of those filed during the last five years, the agency reported.
Ohioans filed 278,026 continued jobless claims last week, a slight increase over the previous week.
The number of people seeking unemployment aid nationwide soared last week to 965,000, the most since late August.
The state reported 6,701 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total number of Ohioans infected since the onset of the Pandemic in March 2020 to 799,639 with 9,881 deaths, 79 more than the day before.
The first of two doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to 338,778 Ohioans, 2.9% of the state’s total population with the next phase of vaccinations scheduled to begin next week.
There were 288 new hospital admissions, though the number of patients currently occupying hospital beds in the state declined for the third straight day to 3,923, 14.1% of the total inpatient capacity.
A total of 42,151 Ohioans have been hospitalized with COVID-19.
The seven-day rate of individuals testing positive for the coronavirus was 13%.