AKRON, Ohio – The city of Akron is taking seriously the adage “tough times demand tough actions.”

 

What You Need To Know

  • Akron City Council approved an ordinance Monday that prohibits private gatherings with more than six guests and makes masks mandatory for smaller gatherings

  • The new rule will be enforced by Summit County Public health and the Akron Police Department, with offenders facing civil fines of up to $250

  • Akron’s hospital systems are nearly at capacity with COVID-19 patients

  • Akron enforced a similar ordinance in 1918, during the Spanish flu

 

To curb what’s becoming the “uncontrolled spread of COVID-19,” Akron City Council approved an ordinance on Monday that prohibits large private gatherings with more than six guests who live outside the home, whether or not they are blood-related.

The ordinance also requires face masks be worn in Akron at all private gatherings of fewer than six guests, unless people are eating a meal, are 10 or younger, have a medical condition or are outside with six-feet of distance.

Summit County Public Health will enforce the new rule with support from the Akron Police Department. Organizers of gatherings who exceed six guests could face up to $250 in civil fines.

The temporary “Private Gathering Ordinance,” submitted by Mayor Dan Horrigan and Council President Margo Sommerville, will remain in place for 30 days, through Dec. 16, unless council extends it.

Akron passed a similar ordinance in 1918 during the Spanish flu outbreak, said Akron Chief of Staff James Hardy.

Summit Health Commissioner Donna Skoda referred to the rise in cases as “uncontrolled community spread,” with the seven-day average in the county jumping from 33.7 cases on Oct. 1 to 245.4 cases on Nov. 14.

In one month, confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 have nearly doubled in Summit County, jumping from just over 6,000 on Oct. 14 to more than 10,000 on Nov. 14, according to the Summit County Public Health coronavirus dashboard. 

On Monday, Skoda told city council’s health and human services committee the virus is not spreading at bars, restaurants and other businesses – it is happening in people’s homes and at private parties.

“We have seen this rate just exponentially increase,” she said. ”I can tell you the surge in cases we are having right now is related to many of the Halloween gatherings in people’s houses we have been told about when we do contact tracing and we call individuals.”

The numbers started to rise when kids went back to school and families returned to behavior that was appropriate before the pandemic, she said. In addition, many people mistook their COVID-19 symptoms for a cold and attended a family function, she said.

“We started to let our guard down,” Skoda said. “Now everybody’s positive because they thought they had a cold.”

The ultimate goal is to avoid having to close businesses again, she said.

“Give us the next 30 days to help save some lives,” Horrigan said. ”I think people are tired, and I think they’re weary, but we need to be able to get through this next 30 days, to not overwhelm these hospitals, so they don’t have to do things like ration care.”

CEOs of Akron’s three large hospital systems also addressed the committee.

Summa Health System is averaging 15 to 20 daily admissions at its Akron and Barberton campuses, the ICUs are 90 percent full and the positivity rate is over 20 percent, up from about 5 percent earlier in the pandemic, said CEO Dr. Cliff Deveny.

The majority of the new cases contracted the virus from a family member, he said.

“We will see a doubling of the number of patients in the hospital over the next two weeks, potentially this could go into January, if we don’t start to see some really tough interventions around exposing each other,” Deveny said.

Akron General Cleveland Clinic’s coronavirus statistics are comparable, said President Dr. Brian Harte.

The hospital’s main campus in Akron has 61 COVID-19 patients up from 17 patients a month ago, with 16 of those patients in the ICU, he said. Like Summa, he said, about 25 percent of patients who are tested are positive for coronavirus.

“Admitting roughly 10 a day and I am happy to say that many of those patients often get better and go home, but they are coming in faster than we can discharge them and about one a day are dying,” Harte said.

Both Summa and Akron General Cleveland Clinic have opened additional COVID-19 units to handle the influx of patients, and are looking at potentially opening more, the CEOs said.

“This is getting near the edge of what we’re capable of doing,” Harte said, adding that staffing is a concern with many workers out sick or quarantined with the virus. “Our world’s on fire and we are near the edge.”

Akron Children’s Hospital is prepared to assist Summa and Akron General Cleveland Clinic in handling patients, if the need arises, said President and CEO Grace Wakulchik.

However, about 100 Children’s staffers are out either sick with COVID-19 or under quarantine.

“They have community acquired disease from these small social gatherings of people that they don’t think are going to bring them the infection - their friends and their family,” she said. “We are very concerned about the Thanksgiving holiday coming up.”

The Ohio Department of Health is reporting more 300,000 cases across the state and nearly 6,000 deaths. More than 200,000 people are reported to have recovered from the virus since it arrived last January.

Akron officials are asking the public to report in-progress gatherings of large groups to the police non-emergency line at 330-375-2181.

 Reports of previously held gatherings, or other COVID-19-related complaints, can be made online through Summit County Public Health.