COLUMBUS, Ohio — Franklin County entered the "purple" COVID-19 alert level on Thursday as officials warned the spread of the virus in Ohio has worsened despite vaccinations. 

Officials reported that Franklin County, the state’s only purple county, triggered six of the state’s COVID-19 indicators for rising spread of the virus, which are based on infection and hospitalization numbers. 

In the last week, Franklin County reported the second most COVID-19 cases in the state behind Cuyahoga County. On a per capita basis, Franklin is 23rd of Ohio’s 88 counties for seven-day average cases. 

Gov. Mike DeWine said he is actually more concerned about the trends in other counties.

"I don't want to downplay that, but I do want to put it in perspective," DeWine said, reacting to the news at his 2 p.m. press briefing Thursday. "I would, again, emphasize that the thing really to look at is the cases per 100,000, and Franklin county is fine, but there are other counties that're certainly higher than Franklin."

In Franklin county, the seven-day case average was 283 as of Wednesday, a more than 35% increase since a mid-March low. 

Health officials joined Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther Thursday afternoon to brief the media.

Columbus Public Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika Roberts said residents should be aware of the rising cases, but there will not be new restrictions at this time. 

"I want to make it very clear to everyone that this purple declaration does not mean that schools should close or go remote," she said. "Public Health is not recommending a stay-at-home advisory, or any closure of any of our businesses, or anything of that nature."

Roberts said young people are driving the uptick of cases. Local officials are hopeful this is a post-spring break spike that will subside in the coming weeks. 

For vaccinated residents in Franklin County, officials are not recommending that they need to keep to only essential activities. 

"For our community that has been vaccinated, you can definitely go about your daily activities," Roberts said. "If you are an adult who's eligible to get vaccinated, and for whatever reason you're choosing not to get vaccinated, you should be mindful that the disease is out there, the virus is out there, and you want to protect yourself as well as others around you."

​Adult COVID-19 hospitalizations in Franklin County have doubled since the middle of March, according to Dr. Andrew Thomas, Ohio State Wexner Medical Center's chief clinical officer. 

Thomas said the purple indicator should put county residents on high alert to be careful.

"It's an early warning system. It's like the weather report -- it's telling you what's coming in the future. A lot of those early indicators are what are flagging, so there is time to change our behavior, to reemphasize what you've heard about with masking, distancing and avoiding large crowds," he said.

COVID-19 cases increased statewide this week, according to officials. Ohio's case average from March 31 to April 13 per 100,000 residents was 200.0, according to a report on Thursday. DeWine has said he will lift health orders in Ohio when that number drops below 50.