Coronavirus: Clark County makes Ohio ‘watch list’ as new record set

There are 30 people hospitalized for coronavirus in the county, and long-term care facilities are continuing to report cases.

The governor noted that most of the virus' spread is due to people gathering with friends.

Hamilton and Cuyahoga counties were the other two counties in Ohio at risk of moving up to level 4. Since the alert system was created at the end of June, Ohio has never had a county at level 4.

DeWine noted that the three counties on the watch list all qualify for level 4, but must qualify for two straight weeks before they are moved up.

Butler, Greene, Montgomery and Warren counties remained at level 3. They are four of 38 counties at level 3 in Ohio, which is up from 29 reported last Thursday.

Only four of Ohio’s 88 counties are at level 1.

“This is the highest number of red counties and the lowest number of yellow counties to date,” DeWine said. “That means that 74% of Ohioans are living in a red county. Only 1% are living in a yellow county.”

DeWine repeated calls for Ohioans to come together in the fight against coronavirus says “it is now serious.”

“Sadly, our situation in Ohio continues to worsen,” he said. “For my fellow Ohioans who have felt that until now this virus really did not impact their life or their family and that they would react when it was really serious -- I say to them that the time is now.”

Ohio broke its daily coronavirus record for the second straight day with 2,425 cases reported.

Yesterday, there were 2,366 cases reported, breaking the previous record set on Saturday.

“Of the 10 highest days of new cases reported, eight have occurred in just the past nine days,” DeWine said. “Nine have occurred in the month of October alone.”

This is the fifth time the state has broken the daily case record in less than 10 days. There have been 190,430 total cases reported during the pandemic in Ohio, according to the state health department.

Ohio also set a new record for new COVID-19 hospitalizations Tuesday after 216 were reported. Today, 159 hospitalizations were reported, bringing the total to 17,682.

There have been 5,161 deaths related to coronavirus in Ohio, including 12 reported today. ICU admissions increased by 25 for a total of 3,657.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie joined DeWine’s press conference to share his experience after testing positive for coronavirus.

“I thought I was safe,” he said. “I was wrong.”

Christie described the virus as feeling like he was being beaten up “from the inside out.” He also described the emotional and mental toll of the virus when he was in isolation, saying that people were communicating with him by showing a white board against a window.

He stressed the importance of wearing a mask, avoiding large groups and frequent hand washing.

“There is no place to hide from this virus if you don’t take the common sense steps recommended to us,' Christie said.