Cases remain at 4-month lows as Ohio awaits more vaccine
Ohio's COVID-19 cases remain at four-month lows as health officials continue efforts to get more shots into more arms while the state awaits greater supplies of vaccines.
The state is counting on increased shipments of the two-shot Pfizerbiontech and Moderna vaccines and the arrival of Johnson & Johnson's one-shot inoculation to catch up with a back log of Ohioans age 65 and older eligible for the shots.
Gov. Mike Dewine says up to 60,000 additional first-shot doses will be available each week once the state finishes vaccinating teachers and other school staff to help bolster the number of in-person classrooms by March 1.
The next group in line for vaccinations, which hit 1.5 million first-shot doses on Wednesday, or 12.8% of Ohio's population, will be those age 60 to 64, but state officials do not know when that age group will be added to the eligibility list.
Here's a look at Ohio's COVID-19 numbers for Wednesday:
h New deaths: 77
h Total deaths since start of the pandemic: 17,045
h New confirmed and probable cases: 1,842
h Total cases since start of the pandemic: 959,995
h Current hospitalizations: 1,338
h Cumulative hospital admissions: 49,788
h Seven-day average PCR positivity rate: 5.0%
h People vaccinated with at least one dose: 1,500,364 or 12.84% of the population
h People fully vaccinated: 742,857 or 6.36% of the population rludlow@dispatch.com @Randyludlow