COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The Ohio Department of Health on Thursday reported 9,997 new COVID-19 cases for the past week, going under 10,000 for the first time in nearly six months.
The state has seen consistently smaller case rates, breaking a 10-week pattern in the past two weeks. Prior to July, the state’s COVID-19 spread had not broken 20,000 new cases in nearly five months. Ohio has not had new cases dip below 10,000 since April 28, when it reported 8,731. It immediately went up to 11,013 during the week of April 29. Later in July, cases climbed over 20,000 and stayed above that threshold for 10 weeks in a row.
ODH began reporting COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, deaths and vaccinations weekly instead of daily in mid-March after new infections slowed to a low level after the omicron wave. Over the past week, the state averaged around 1,428 new coronavirus cases per day. Ohio saw fewer people hospitalized with the virus as case numbers also dropped. The 369 hospitalizations reported by ODH in the past seven days (about 53 per day) are a noticeable drop from 432 last week and 523 the week prior.
While cases and hospitalizations are down, more people died from COVID-19 in the past week. ODH said 94 died from the virus, up slightly from 89 deaths the week prior.
| COVID-19 metric | Total | Change (past 7 days) |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 3,153,743 | +9,997 |
| Hospitalizations | 127,180 | +369 |
| Deaths | 39,950 | +94 |
A total of 7,197 Ohioans started the COVID-19 vaccination process in the past seven days. Another 6,607 finished vaccination by getting their second dose. Around six in 10 Ohioans are partially or fully vaccinated.
| COVID-19 metric | Total | Change (past 7 days) |
|---|---|---|
| Vaccinations started (one dose) | 7,480,468 | +7,197 |
| – % of all Ohioans | 64.00% | |
| – % of Ohioans 5+ | 67.59% | |
| Vaccinations completed (two doses) | 6,933,662 | +6,607 |
| – % of all Ohioans | 59.32% | |
| – % of Ohioans 5+ | 62.89% |