Clark County’s rapid rise in cases is mirroring what’s happening on the state level. Ohio smashed its previously daily case record on Tuesday, reporting 6,508 cases and 386 hospitalizations between Monday and Tuesday afternoon. It was the first time the state has recorded more than 6,000 cases in a single day, something Gov. Mike DeWine called “alarming.”
The case count beat the state’s previous record of 5,549 which was set on Saturday by nearly 1,000, according to data from the Ohio Department of Health. The state’s previous record for hospitalizations was 231 and was set on Friday.
Gov. DeWine will address Ohioans Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. regarding that state’s “critical stage” in the pandemic and how it will impact Ohio moving forward.
“Today’s data is alarming: Another 6,508 positive COVID-19 cases have been reported in the last 24 hours,” DeWine said. “Everyone must take this pandemic seriously. It’s up to all of us to stop this spread.”
CCCHD Commissioner Charles Patterson said despite hiring more contact tracers and employees working nearly around the clock, the county is still struggling to catch up.
“We have hired more contact tracers, we also have regular full-time employees who are helping to contact trace on top of their normal duties, and on top of that, some individuals are working 7 days a week to try and keep up with the new cases,” Patterson said.
Normally, when a person tests positive for the coronavirus, they receive a call from a health department worker known as a contact tracer. These local workers confidentially inform the person’s recent close contacts that they need to quarantine because they could be infectious. The contact tracers also help connect people to support services if they need it in order to isolate, such as if they need help with accessing food while isolating.
Kyle Trout, communications coordinator for the CCCHD, said the health district has about 20 full-time contact tracers, however, due to limited space, only two more could be hired in the last month.
As a way to address the backlog of cases, on Tuesday the health district started sending all cases that have yet to be contacted a packet which includes a letter informing them of their positive COVID result, education on isolation, education on quarantine for any close contacts, education on what constitutes someone as a close contact and a shortened interview that will ask the person to fill out and send back to the CCCHD.
Clark County had 3,580 cases, 91 deaths and four probable deaths of the coronavirus as of Tuesday, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
“Now is the time to double our efforts of masking, social distancing and limiting contact with individuals who do not live in your home. Taking responsibility for your own health by leaving any places where masking/social distancing is not occurring as well as not hosting or attending parties is going to be crucial in reducing the number of new cases,” Patterson said.
In total, Ohio recorded 261,482 total cases and 5,547 total deaths on Tuesday, according to ODH.
Leaders and officials from hospitals across the state shared updates from their regions on Monday as cases and hospitalizations continued to climb in Ohio.
As of Tuesday, there are 2,747 COVID-19 patients in Ohio’s hospitals, with 656 in the ICU and 327 on ventilators. In southwest Ohio, there are 738 coronavirus patients in hospitals, up from 671 reported on Monday.
COVID-19 patients account for 10.73% of the region’s hospital beds, with 25.56%, or 1,758 beds, still available.
The state’s positivity rate has also continued to climb along with cases and hospitalizations. On Sunday, 11% of those tested for the virus were positive, the highest its been since the end of April.
Staff Writer Kaitlin Schroeder contributed to this report.
Facts & Figures:
Over 300: Clark County cases that still needed to be interviewed as a result of testing positive for COVID-19
80: Roughly the amount of new COVID-19 cases the Clark County Combined Health District is seeing per day
20: Amount of full-time contact tracers the Clark County Combined Health District has
6,508: Total COVID-19 cases reported in Ohio on Tuesday, the most the state has ever seen
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