COLUMBUS, Ohio — Slowly and steadily, the number of hospital beds that are staffed and available is increasing throughout our state.

What You Need To Know

  • Eye on Ohio: The Ohio Center for Journalism fought the state for access to the number of available hospital beds and other equipment related to COVID-19

  • Eye on Ohio filed a lawsuit in the Court of Claims of Ohio in order to obtain the requested information

  • In November, Judge Patrick M. McGrath ruled the Ohio Department of Health must provide the requested information

Each week, Spectrum News 1 speaks with Eye on Ohio: Ohio Center For Journalism about the latest hospital bed data. The organization collects the latest data from the state health department and looks for possible trends.

Lucia Walinchus, the executive director for Eye on Ohio said, "We're seeing really great numbers."

According to the latest statistics, at last week's low point, the state reported 2,792 staffed Med/Surg beds on March 12. That's close to 800 more than reported a week earlier. Hospitals also reported an increase in the number of available N-95 masks. More than 150,000 were reported on March 12. That's about 4,000 more than the week before.

"We're seeing their capacity start to recover, so that's great. We're seeing more hospital equipment. For a long time these areas, particularly Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo, (and) at times Akron especially were sort of trending down and down and down, but we're finally being able to see an appreciable uptick, which is great," she said.

The state health department releases the latest data to Eye on Ohio each week. While hospitals are mandated to report the number of beds and ventilators, reporting other equipment is voluntary.