The dashboard will track cases of COVID-19 in all public and private K-12 schools across the state. Data displayed on the board includes all student and staff cases broken into two categories: new and cumulative. The board will be updated each Thursday.
Northeastern and Graham Local School District were the only two districts in Clark and Champaign County who recorded a positive case between Sept. 7- 13.
Northeastern had previously announced the district’s case on Sept. 2 and in a press release said it was found within Rolling Hills Elementary School.
According to a letter posted on Graham’s website, the district confirmed its positive COVID-19 case on Sept. 11, although they did not specify which school.
DeWine reiterated on Thursday that just because a school has positive tests does not mean they are not following health protocols. He said what happens in schools is a reflection of what happens in the larger community.
In good news for the “larger community”, Clark County remained at a level 2 on the Ohio Public Health Advisory System for the fourth straight week, bucking DeWine and Clark County Combined Health District Commissioner Charles Patterson’s prediction the county would likely move to level 3 this week.
DeWine and Patterson said last week they expected the county to move to the red level because of an outbreak at Wittenberg University.
Wittenberg, located in Springfield, recorded a total of 55 active cases on Thursday, according to their website. The university reported 104 resolved cases, with a total of 163 cases to date.
Clark County has frequently bounced between level 2 and level 3 since Gov. Mike DeWine unveiled the advisory system on July 2. The first time the county hit level 3 was on July 2. The first time the county hit level 3 was on July 23. The county then dropped back to level 2 for a couple of weeks before moving back to level 3 on Aug. 20.
Since then, the county has remained at level 2.
Champaign County jumped to level 2 this week after being a level 1 for two weeks. The county made the swing to level 2 after seeing an increase in cases over the past two weeks, from 12 to 20.
The advisory system ranges from level 1 or yellow as lowest to level 4 or purple as highest and most severe. No county has received a purple rating.
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 congregate 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 two indicators: new cases per capita and sustained increase in new cases. This week the county hit the same two.
Clark County had 1,693 cases, 37 deaths and two probable deaths of the coronavirus as of Thursday afternoon, according to ODH. Champaign had 283 cases and three deaths.
Statewide, 11 counties were given a level 3 rating this week, including Montgomery County.
In addition to the school dashboard, DeWine also unveiled a second COVID-19 data dashboard on children.
The children’s dashboard shows how many Ohioans younger than 18 have tested positive for the virus, as well as hospitalizations and deaths. It also breaks down cases by county, age group, ethnicity and race.
Of Clark County’s 1,693 cases, 129 were children under the age of 18, according to the data.
Ohio reported 141,484 total cases and 4,580 deaths of the coronavirus on Thursday, according to ODH. Between Wednesday and Thursday, the state reported 1,067 new cases and 25 new deaths.
Facts & Figures
1: Staff case of COVID-19 reported at Northeastern Local School District
1: Staff case of COVID-19 reported at Graham Local School District
2: Clark County’s new Ohio Public Health Advisory System level
Source: Ohio Department of Health
Pop-up testing clinic in Springfield today
1 p.m. until 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18
Life in Christ Community Church (formerly New Life of Springfield)
1100 Sunset Ave. in Springfield
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