Thursday was the second time Clark County had reached level 3 since DeWine unveiled the advisory system on July 2. The first time the county hit the red level was on July 23. Every other week the county has remained in level 2.
The advisory system ranges from level 1 or yellow as lowest to level 4 or purple as highest or most severe.
The seven indicators the Ohio Department of Health uses when judging what level to give a county are: new cases per capita, sustained increase in new cases, proportion of cases not in a community spread, sustained increase in emergency department visits for COVID-like illness, sustained increase in outpatient visits for COVID-like illness, sustained increase in new COVID hospital admissions and intensive care unit bed occupancy.
Last week, Clark County hit four indictors: new cases per capita, sustained increase in new cases, proportion of cases not in a community spread and sustained increase in new COVID hospital admissions.
“We started with the orange color code, then after a few weeks, we moved up. We had a few weeks of red, then we went back to orange and then last week due to our current circumstances we are back at the red hazard level,” Patterson said.
Those circumstances, Patterson said, are that at the beginning of the pandemic the county saw several outbreaks at workplaces, the largest outbreak in the county being at Dole Fresh vegetable plant in Springfield, which saw 282 positive cases linked to the plant.
Now the virus has spread throughout the community and has started making its way into nursing homes with both staff and residents testing positive for the virus.
“At this point, we are seeing it in the general population. Unfortunately, that is now starting to affect our nursing homes,” Patterson said.
As of Aug. 19, 11 long-term care facilities in Clark County had at least one resident or staff member currently infected with the virus, according to CCCHD data.
The largest outbreak is at Mercy Health Oakwood Village, a senior living facility in Springfield. As of Aug. 19, the facility had 23 residents and 20 staff members currently infected with the virus, bringing the total to 43 current cases.
“We were seeing 55 cases a week or so and now that’s moved into the nursing homes and long-term care, that’s bumped us up to more like 75 to 80 cases a week now with those residents and employees being affected,” Patterson said.
Patterson warned the public that with children returning to the classroom, the coronavirus could spread quickly and easily through schools.
“Just as we have seen it affect our long-term cares, we know that if people are not following (DeWine’s) guidance with the social distancing and the masking, we very quickly could see this transmission in the schools,” Patterson said. “We still have enough people not following the guidance. That’s throwing our numbers off and that’s why we continue to battle this in our community.”
Clark County had 1,360 cases, 21 deaths and two probable deaths of the coronavirus as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Ohio reported 116,495 total cases and 3,996 deaths of the coronavirus on Tuesday, according to ODH. Between Monday and Tuesday, the state reported 844 new cases and 10 new deaths, both of which are below the 21-day average.
55: Amount of coronavirus cases Clark County was previous seeing
75 to 80: Amount of coronavirus cases Clark County is currently seeing
1,360: Total coronavirus cases in Clark County as of Tuesday
23: Total coronavirus death in Clark County, including two probable, as of Tuesday
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