COLUMBUS, Ohio — The state's top doctors warned Ohioans Monday that the pandemic has reached an unprecedented point to where it is affecting hospital capacity.

What You Need To Know

  • On Tuesday, the Ohio Department of Health reported 6,508 new COVID-19 cases — a record for the state

  • Dr. Robert Wyllie at Cleveland Clinic says his hospital and ICU are currently utilizing 70-75% of its beds

  • The doctors say this is due to community spread at informal gatherings at people's homes and at weddings and funerals, and not at schools and businesses

Gov. Mike DeWine is bringing leaders from the Ohio Hospital Association together to say if residents do not comply with Centers for Disease Control guidelines, then the ability to take care of sick COVID patients could be at risk.

At the beginning of the pandemic, DeWine separated the state into three health care zones: a northern zone, a central and southeastern zone and a western and southwestern zone. On Monday, officials from all three were sounding the proverbial alarm, saying substantial changes need to be made to people's behavior, but also that help may not be far away.

"If we have a vaccine that's 90 percent effective, within the next four to six months, the population is probably going to be vaccinated and we won't be having the same discussion in six months," said Cleveland Clinic Dr. Robert Wyllie.

Until we get to there, hospitals around the state are losing space to treat patients. On Tuesday, the Ohio Department of Health reported 6,508 new COVID-19 cases, shattering Ohio's previous record high set Saturday. Dr. Wyllie says his hospital and ICU are currently utilizing 70-75 percent of its beds.

"Now is the time to wear a mask and socially distance, if not to protect your family and your friends and your community, then help protect the caregivers, which not only have to take care of COVID patients — we need them in place — but for all the other things that people come in the hospital for," said Wyllie.

Similar numbers are being reported across Zone 1 and the other two zones. The doctors say this is due to community spread at informal gatherings at people's homes and at weddings and funerals, and not at schools and businesses.

Dr. Andrew Thomas at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center says another shutdown is not the answer to the problem.

"A stay-at-home order that would somehow close all businesses or manufacturing, in my mind, doesn't seem to make sense this time around because I think it's really much more about personal behavior and activities in your personal life," said Dr. Thomas.

One of those normal activities at this time of the year would be family gatherings for Thanksgiving. The doctors say that is a bad idea.

"It's gonna have to be the tough choice that people make to get to that end point as we have been describing where there is a vaccine that's abundantly available later in 2021 that will be part of our pathway past this pandemic," Thomas said.

Dr. Thomas says if folks do not cancel Thanksgiving in its typical fashion, then what feels like a very busy flu season now, which is usually in mid-January, will be unimaginable come next year.​