“In the last seven days, we have had 298 new confirmed cases. We sat before you in the previous week and said we had 195 cases, which was the most cases we had in one week outside of Dole testing,” Patterson said. “Clearly we have far surpassed that. Surpassed that by 103 cases. That’s more cases than we have ever had in a week. It should be real now.”
Clark County isn’t the only one seeing a spike in cases. Over the last five days, Ohio has reported 14,667 cases of COVID-19, topping out with a record-breaking 3,845 cases on Friday, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Friday was the state’s second day in a row reporting more than 3,000 cases and the second day breaking the daily case record. In total, the state reported 212,782 cases and 5,291 deaths of the coronavirus.
Because of rising cases and hospitalizations, Patterson said he doesn’t think Halloween parties and Beggar’s Night “is a good idea.” However, he said he’s less concerned about children trick-or-treating, because the event is outside, as opposed to adults spending the holiday partying indoors.
“I would tell you trick-or-treating itself is safer than Halloween parties and gathering indoors for possibly several hours, but I know that Halloween is a party holiday for many adults,” Patterson said. “Remember, we are asking people to mask and social distance.”
Patterson warned that Halloween parties will put “a lot of people in jeopardy."
“Right now, in Clark County, we can’t afford our numbers to go up any further. They will start affecting the hospital if our numbers continue to go up.”
Clark County had 2,821 cases, 84 deaths and four probable deaths of the coronavirus as of Friday afternoon, according to ODH.
In response to the high number of cases and hospitalizations, the CCCHD and the Ohio National Guard will hold two free pop-up testing clinics over the next two weeks. One will be hosted from 2 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday in the north parking of The Dome (John Legend Theatre) located at 700 S. Limestone St. in Springfield and the other will be from 2 to 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9 at Sacred Heart Church located at 209 W. Lake Ave. in New Carlisle.
Both clinics will offer drive-through testing for free and no doctor’s order or appointment is needed.
Facts & Figures
2,821: Total COVID-19 cases in Clark County
88: Total COVID-19 deaths in Clark County
41: COVID-19 deaths in Clark County in October
2: Free pop-up testing clinics to be held next week in Clark County
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