New Ohio virus cases top 2,300
Another 2,309 Ohioans have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the statewide total to 198,115, according to the latest numbers posted Sunday by the Ohio Department of Health.
That number of additional positive daily cases was lower than the numbers reported on Saturday for the previous 24 hours but was still above the 21-day average of 1,867.
No additional deaths were logged for Saturday, though the numbers on Sundays typically drop as the reporting process slows for the weekend. The statewide death toll attributed to the coronavirus stands at 5,206.
Meanwhile, the Ohio Investigative Unit said that on Saturday, the day of the Ohio State University Buckeyes football season home opener, state agents cited an overcrowded popular campus-area bar. Agents said the Midway Bar, among other things, had too many people inside and was serving alcohol to underage customers.
Agents said they went into the bar, at 1728 N. High St., about 9:30 p.m. and found “disorderly activity” with more than 100 people in the upstairs section and no one enforcing proper pandemic social-distancing protocols. People were standing and dancing and few people were wearing face coverings, the state said.
Agents also reported that bartenders were serving “youthful looking patrons” and not checking identification. Five people were charged with underage consumption.
State agents also cited the El Huarache Mexican Grill in Columbus for allowing after-hours consumption after Franklin Township police and agents saw people drinking at 12:25 a.m.
Both cases will go before the Ohio Liquor Control Commission where the owners could face fines and penalties that include suspension or revocation of their liquor licenses.
When the state health department’s latest numbers posted Sunday, they showed that an additional 89 people have been hospitalized with COVID-19. That’s fewer than were hospitalized in the previous 24 hours and less than the three-week average of 111. A total of 1,338 Ohioans remain hospitalized.
Admissions to intensive care units increased by nine in the latest 24-hour period reported. As of Sunday, 377 Ohioans remained in ICU with the virus, and 195 of those were on ventilators, according to the state.
Cumulatively, the state says 18,295 have been hospitalized since the pandemic began and 158,836 people are “presumed recovered.”
Franklin County reported no additional deaths on Sunday, and the state shows the county’s total case total at 32,241, an increase of 242 cases from the previous day’s count. hzachariah@dispatch.com @hollyzachariah