In the last 21 days, Ohio is averaging 1,061 cases a day.
After weeks of the delta variant increasing in Ohio, its now the state’s dominant strain, ODH Chief Medical Officer Bruce Vanderhoff said Friday.
According to lab sequencing less than 1% of coronavirus cases in May were attributed to the variant, Gov. Mike DeWine said. From July 4-17, it increased to 86.47%.
“It’s important for us all to recognize that this virus is not the common cold,” Vanderhoff said. “This is a nasty virus that can cause inflammation of your blood vessels and other organs.”
Vanderhoff and DeWine both encouraged Ohioans to get vaccinated.
“The name of the game is vaccines,” the governor said. “...We have two Ohios. We have people who are vaccinated who ae very, very safe today. We have people who are not vaccinated who are not safe and they are more in peril because of this delta variant.”
Anyone interested in getting vaccinated can visit https://gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov/ to find a clinic or schedule an appointment.
Ohio reported 107 hospitalizations Friday, making it the third time daily hospitalizations exceeded 100 in the last week.
The state is averaging 62 hospitalizations a day over the last three weeks, according to ODH. As of Friday, Ohio has 899 COVID patients hospitalized in the state.
Five ICU admissions were reported in the last day. Ohio’s 21-day average is six ICU admissions a day.
The state reported 26 deaths on Friday, bringing its total to 20,556, according to ODH.
The day a death is reported does not reflect the day the death occurred. Because some states do not regularly report death certificate information to ODH’s Bureau of Vital Statistics, death data can fluctuate.
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