COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Department of Health on Friday 1806 reported additional cases of coronavirus and included an additional 209 COVID-19 deaths in its twice-weekly death update.
To date, Ohio has reported 986,740 cases, 51,438 hospitalizations and 17,871 deaths.
Meanwhile, vaccinations have begun on 2,241,145 people, near a fourth of Ohio’s adult population. This includes more than half of the people for all age groups from 65-69 and older.
Across Ohio, 947 patients were hospitalized with coronavirus on Friday, the Ohio Hospital Association found daily. This included 234 in intensive care units. These numbers peaked at 5,308 patients, with 1,318 in ICU beds on December 15th. The low of 823 patients was reported on Sunday.
The Department of Health recently changed its method of death reporting, from daily reports to twice a week and now uses information from the Centers for Disease Control. This results in significantly slower reporting of deaths, up to six months, than according to previous reporting methods.
Separately, the Department of Health has tentatively reported that at least 143,493 Ohio residents died of all causes in 2020, compared to 123,705 in 2019, and well above the average of 116,930 in the previous ten years. Deaths from natural causes rose by 18,348 last year, while hundreds of cases were pending.
Previous stories
A year of COVID-19 in Ohio, told by the numbers
How to claim your unemployment tax loss under new stimulus; other coronavirus related tax issues – It’s rich!
Here’s what’s in the latest COVID-19 emergency relief bill, including $ 5,600 stimulus payments for a family of 4 – It’s rich!
Ohio’s unemployment rate drops to 5.3%; still declares 307,000 pre-coronavirus posts
The Ohio rate fall rate is falling closer to the government’s goal, DeWine, to lift restrictions; 66 provinces are now on alert