COLUMBUS, Ohio — Hamilton County entered the state’s purple alert level on Thursday as Gov. Mike DeWine warned the pandemic appears to be worsening once again in Ohio.
Two counties, Clermont and Lorain, entered the state’s watchlist which means they are at risk of next week entering the purple alert level on the state’s map indicating where spread of the virus is accelerating most quickly.
“It does look as though our cases are starting to increase again,” DeWine said Thursday. “We're not necessarily seeing a dramatic surge after Christmas yet, but there has been a bit of an upswing in our cases. Reflecting this, Hamilton County is moving to purple.”
Ohio reported 7,654 cases Thursday, 109 deaths, and 340 hospitalizations. Ohio is up to a 7-day average of 7,746 cases. After daily cases peaked in mid-December, there were two-weeks of declining cases as the 7-day average dropped to 6,505.
As of Thursday, 7-day average deaths were at 75, according to Ohio Department of Health data, slightly below peaks last month at 85.
Hospitalization numbers have shown more signs of improvement, though the patient levels remains severe. The latest update to the hospitalization dashboard showed 3,789 inpatients, 952 people in ICU beds, and 618 on ventilators.
The governor said Ohio’s vaccine roll out has been on par with other states, but he said that’s not good enough. Ohio, the seventh most populous state, ranks seventh among state in immunizations administered, he said.
Ohio receives vaccine shipments on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. DeWine said he is setting a goal of administering 85% of the week’s total allocation by the following Sunday.
By last Sunday, Ohio had administered 72% of the shots the state had received, which isn’t good enough for the governor. DeWine said providers need to move with more urgency, especially when it comes to weekends and holidays, when very few immunizations are being reported.
“In the crisis we're in we just have to work through the weekend, and sometimes that has not taken place,” DeWine said.
As the state nears the first day of immunizations for seniors 80 and older, Jan. 19, Ohio will launch a database at 8 a.m. Thursday with instructions for seniors regarding how to contact vaccine providers in their counties.
The governor hopes during this next phase of the vaccine rollout the state will see the numbers rise more quickly.
“At the beginning, quite candidly, some of our hospitals weren't moving as fast as I wanted to move. We love them. They're great, but they weren't moving.”
Providers slowed down for Christmas and New Year’s, but DeWine said he thinks some of the problems have been rectified.
“We're rolling along. We told the hospitals that they need to switch over Sunday night from doing their own personnel. They need to go ahead and start doing people 80 and above. We think that's going to work,” he said.
The governor said he spoke with the Biden transition team Tuesday about their ideas for mass vaccination sites. The new administration has a vision for a mix of large mass vaccination sites in addition to smaller neighborhood options. DeWine said he agrees with the vision.
Ohio’s four pharmacy partners in the vaccine effort will have soon visited every nursing home, DeWine announced Thursday. By the end of the day, Absolute Pharmacy and PharmScript will have been once to all of their assigned nursing homes, DeWine said.
CVS has visited 468 of its 478 assigned facilities and Walgreens has gone into 95% of its 398 assigned facilities. Many of these locations still need to be revisited for second shots that are needed for strong immunity.