Schools’ virus-case reporting to change

Ohio schools will face new requirements for reporting cases of COVID-19 starting Tuesday.

Gov. Mike Dewine said the Ohio Department of Health planned to issue an order Thursday requiring parents to notify a school that their child has tested positive for the virus within 24 hours of diagnosis.

Beginning Sept. 15, local health departments will report the number of newly reported and cumulative cases to the state health department every Tuesday. New data will then be published publicly every Thursday on Ohio’s coronavirus tracking website, the governor said.

In addition, Dewine said each school district or school will identify a COVID-19 coordinator to facilitate the reporting of case information. Each school and building also will be required to provide the local health department with a copy of its pandemic plan upon request.

“There is always this balance between the right to know and privacy,” Dewine said. “We do not intend for protected health information to be released ... but releasing as much as we can is very important.”

Ohio joins several other states, including Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, South Carolina and Texas, that are rolling out similar systems for publicly reporting COVID-19 cases in K-12 schools.

Some central Ohio districts, such as Worthington, have begun publicly reporting cases on their websites. Just one school, Worthington Park Elementary, has logged a case, presumably an infected staff member, although the dashboard doesn’t specify. Students are learning online, and the plan is for them to return to buildings part time on Sept. 29.

“Just because a school has positive cases among students and staff does not mean that school did anything wrong. In fact, if there are cases, and they’re reporting them, they’re doing what they should be doing,” Dewine said. “Schools cannot control what happens out in their local community.”

With a holiday weekend ahead, Dewine pleaded with Ohioans again on Thursday to stay safe and abide by the state’s COVID-19 restrictions. Dewine’s warning comes after Ohio saw a July surge in cases that the governor says was due in part to increased travel over the Independence Day holiday.

“Labor Day is coming ... What we do this weekend will really determine what our fall will look like,” Dewine said. “We’ve got a lot at stake ... We’ve got a lot going for us in Ohio, and we do not want to turn back.”

The governor has said Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials have expressed concern about the long Labor Day weekend.

Dewine on Thursday also acknowledged the six-month anniversary of the decision to ban most spectators from the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus in March. The festival, which attracts visitors from all over the world, was one of the nation’s first major events to be disrupted by COVID-19.

Dewine praised Ohioans who have since then “stepped up” in the face of “great tragedy.”

“Six months, that’s hard to believe,” Dewine said. “That was certainly a tough decision for us, but I believe it set Ohio on a very good path.”

The state also planned to post information Thursday on coronavirus.ohio. gov about a wastewater monitoring network for the coronavirus. Researchers will use the network to look for the coronavirus, which can show up in human waste three to seven days before an infection becomes serious or before the person needs to be hospitalized, Dewine said. The system, which so far consists of 22 testing sites, will help alert communities to impending outbreaks.

On Thursday, an additional 1,345 Ohioans were diagnosed with COVID-19.

Thursday’s caseload was above the three-week average of 1,033 new cases reported per day, according to the state health department. The total number of cases in Ohio now stands at 127,112.

More than 2.3 million COVID-19 tests have been administered in the state since the pandemic hit the state in March.

The average positive test rate for Ohioans over the previous seven days fell to 4.4% Tuesday, the most recent day for which data is available, according to the state health department. The average seven-day positive rate was 4.5% on Monday.

The number of reported deaths rose by 50 on Thursday, bringing the statewide total to 4,226.

An additional 89 Ohioans were hospitalized with the virus as of Thursday. That’s more than the three-week average of 78 new hospitalizations reported per day, according to the state.

Admissions to intensive care units across the state increased by 14 on Thursday, which is more than the threeweek average of 12 new ICU admissions per day. As of Thursday, 742 Ohioans remained hospitalized with COVID-19, including 244 in ICUS and 129 on ventilators, according to the state.

Franklin County remained at an “orange” Level 2 COVID-19 advisory Thursday, having been downgraded from a “red” Level 3 one week ago.

But Franklin County is still one of the hardest hit of Ohio’s 88 counties. It had reported 22,392 cases and 556 deaths by Thursday, state data shows.

Cuyahoga County has the most deaths, with 591, and the second-highest number of cases, 15,965. Hamilton County has the third-highest number of cases, 11,494, while Lucas County has the third-most deaths, 348, according to the state.

Updated COVID-19 data from Ohio State University on Wednesday showed 882 total positive tests among students from Aug. 14 through Aug. 31. That’s about 3.13% of the number of students tested. However, that number reflects the number of positive tests, not individuals, and because Ohio State is testing students every week, it's possible the total could include some students more than once, university officials said.

The university’s seven-day and 24hour statistics, though, reflect the number of individuals who test positive, not the number of positive tests.

Test results for Monday, the most recent 24-hour testing period for which data was available, showed that 171 oncampus students, or 5.7%, tested positive during that period. On the same day, 98 off-campus students, or 9.66%, tested positive. Wednesday was the first time that the university separated on-campus and off-campus data on student testing.

Among students who tested positive as part of Ohio State’s surveillance testing rather than after seeking a test on their own, about 20% were showing at least one minor COVID-19 symptom, Ohio State spokesman Ben Johnson said.

Ohio State’s Wednesday data also showed that 165 isolation and quarantine beds were available on campus, down from 195 as of a week earlier and 351 as of Aug. 25.

Dispatch reporters Jennifer Smola and Alissa Widman Neese contributed to this story. mfilby@dispatch.com @Maxfilby