COLUMBUS (WCMH) — The Ohio Department of Health will be releasing the latest number of COVID-19 cases in the state at 2 p.m., Wednesday.
As of Tuesday, September 15, a total of 139,485 (+1,001) cases have been reported in Ohio since the pandemic began, leading to 4,506 (+87) deaths and 14,378 (+103) hospitalizations. There are presumed 117,130 recovered cases in the state.
The Department of Health adds the data when it is informed of a case or death. The information is backdated to the actual date the person started exhibiting symptoms or the date the person died.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine acknowledged the number of deaths reported Tuesday is the largest number in a 24 hour period in several months. He pointed out that not all of these deaths actually occurred in the last day.
Coronavirus positivity continues to rise in Franklin County despite the county being listed as Level 2 in Ohio’s alert system.
Franklin County ranks 7th out of 88 Ohio counties for the highest occurrence of COVID-19 with 172.2 cases per 100,000 people. There are a total of 2,268 cases as of Sept. 15.
Governor DeWine was joined by Ursel McElroy, Director of the Department of Aging. McElroy says they test for three reasons in nursing homes: if they have symptoms, if someone tests positive all residents and staff are tested, routine staff testing based on spread in the community.
McElroy says at this time they have around 160,000 people between staff and residents in nursing homes that need to be tested in Ohio.
The latest update on Ohio’s coronavirus alert system, is scheduled to be released during DeWine’s Thursday briefing.
