COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Health announced Thursday the COVID-19 case rate per 100,000 residents stands at 155.6, a dip since last week, but the figure remains well above 50 — the magic number that would end all health orders.

The case rate has declined for two consecutive weeks. Last week, case occurrence dropped to 185.8 from 200 on April 15.

Nearly 40% of the state has been vaccinated for COVID-19, with 4.7 million residents having received at least one shot, but the pace of vaccination has plummeted in Ohio.

Three weeks ago, the rate of first-dose vaccinations peaked at a seven-day average of 66,000 shots reported per day, but that figure has since fallen to 30,000, which is a 55% drop.

The state "hit a wall" about two weeks ago with vaccinations, Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday, speaking on a virtual panel moderated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"We knew that there would be a date when we would have more supply than we had demand, but about that same time when we thought that was going to occur, of course, you had the pause in Johnson & Johnson, and so those two things together I think really slowed it down."

Ohio no longer has a county at the purple Level 4 alert status as Franklin County became red on the map.

This week, Vinton, Gallia, Noble and Carroll were at the lowest alert level, which is yellow, while the remaining counties were red (46) and orange (39), an improvement from the prior week when 52 counties were at the red alert status.

Ohio reported 1,786 coronavirus cases Thursday. COVID-19 cases in Ohio have dropped by 30% in the past two weeks as seven-day averages cases fell to 1,522.

On Thursday, 1,200 residents were hospitalized, 324 were in intensive care units and 205 were on ventilators.

Moderna and Pfizer allocations have remained steady for the past three weeks, and officials said Ohio is now at a point where most of the state’s residents who were eager to be vaccinated have taken advantage of the opportunity to do so.

For the week of May 3, Ohio is expected to receive 173,160 Pfizer-BioNTech doses, 128,600 Moderna doses and 26,400 Johnson & Johnson doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest update.

The Johnson & Johnson doses headed to Ohio are part of a 765,500-shot allocation nationally, the first round of distribution in the U.S. since the April 13 pause. The governor said the retun of J&J could help Ohio out as the state tries to overcome vaccine hesitancy. 

"We're seeing a pickup now in Johnson & Johnson. There are people who really want that one shot," DeWine said. "Some people want the Johnson & Johnson, some want the Pfizer, some want the Moderna, so we're in the position now to give them whatever they want.​

As for Ohio’s K-12 schools, the state reported 1,161 new student cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of student infections to 49,584, according to the Spectrum News tracker.

Lakota Local School District became the second in the state to surpass 1,000 infections among students and staff. 

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine will dedicate a grove of trees to victims and survivors of the COVID-19 pandemic Friday at Great Seal State Park in Chillicothe. Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director Mary Mertz will also join the event, the governor’s office announced Thursday afternoon.

The trees will be planted by residents who have recovered from COVID-19, family members of those who died during the pandemic, health care workers, first responders and other essential workers.