“I know that there are many people that are upset that we went back to red. I know that there are many people that are taking that personally,” Patterson said.
Clark County was graded at a level 3, otherwise referred to as the red level, on Thursday afternoon.
It was the second time the county has reached level 3 since Gov. Mike DeWine unveiled the advisory system on July 2. The first time was on July 23. Every other week the county has remained in level 2, which is a better situation in which the disease is spreading less.
Patterson said during the CCCHD’s board meeting on Thursday night, the board discussed being “disappointed” that the county returned to red.
“We were very disappointed that we went back to red because so many people are wearing masks, they are social distancing. As we have said, for a long time people were COVID-weary. But they have really been trying over the last couple of weeks since the mask order,” Patterson said. “We have seen more and more people wearing masks and so I don’t want people to be discouraged.”
Instead, Patterson said he wants residents to be “encouraged by the fact that a lot of what has happened over the last two weeks has been associated with a couple of long-term care facilities.”
As of Wednesday, 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.
One of those outbreaks is at Mercy Health Oakwood Village, a senior living facility in Springfield, Patterson said. On Wednesday, the outbreak became the largest long-term care facility outbreak yet in the county.
As of Wednesday, the facility had 23 residents and 20 staff members currently infected with the virus, bringing the total to 43 current cases.
“Unfortunately, at a couple of long-term cares it’s gotten out of hand with multiple cases and so I believe, especially the outbreak at Oakwood, large outbreaks are what are what really bringing the numbers,” Patterson said.
Clark County had 1,312 cases, 17 deaths and two probable deaths of the coronavirus as of Friday afternoon, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Ohio reported 113,046 total cases and 3,955 deaths of the coronavirus on Friday, according to ODH. Between Thursday and Friday, the state reported 1,043 new cases and 26 new deaths.
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