Variant activity of COVID-19 on the rise in Ohio

Columbusdiscussions over the variant activity of COVID19 was addressed during the regular briefing held by Governor Mike Dewine on Thursday afternoon.

Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff of the Ohio Department of Health joined Dewine virtually and explained the state was seeing an increase in COVID-19 activity, which was a reflection of what the rest of the United States has been seeing.

“Nationally, this picture has been more dramatic in two hot spots, Michigan and the NYC/NJ area,” Vanderhoff said.

Around Ohio, it was reported that variant activity has continued to rise. Variant counts were reported at 92 on March 12, 173 on March 19 and 620 as of Thursday.

In addition, cases of COVID-19 have increased as well. The seven day average of new cases per day was reported at 1,842 this week. Last week, those numbers were recorded at 1,570. On Wednesday, Vanderhoff said there were almost 2,500 new cases.

With the rise in COVID19 cases comes the rise in hospitalizations. Vanderhoff said the rise in concurrent hospitalizations was up from 851 a week ago to 978 on Wednesday.

“While all parts of the state appear to be impacted by rising cases and more variants, many of our highest case counts and almost half of our variant detections are in our northern Zone 1 counties,” Vanderhoff said. “So while, COVID19 is certainly not limited to any particular part of the state, we are seeing more activity including more variant activity, on our northern border with Michigan.”

In the Ohio Public Health Advisory System, Richland County was listed in the red/level three.

“For the past two Thursdays, our statewide averages were just under