State health officials warn that the coronavirus continues to reach into every corner of Ohio, with an additional 4,071 cases and 55 deaths recorded in the past 24-hours.
43 counties are red on the state's color-coded public health advisory map, and all but two of Ohio’s 88 counties are considered “high incidence”, meaning they exceed the Center’s for Disease Control and Prevention thresh hold of 100 cases per 100,000 residence. In some counties, the numbers are four or five times that level.
While Ohio stepped up the number of coronavirus tests in the spring and summer, the positivity rate – the percentage of positive cases – has surged, rising to 8.9% as of Wednesday. In late September, the positivity rate hovered around 2.5%.
The number of people currently hospitalized hit a new record high Wednesday, with 1,982 as of Wednesday. 186 people were hospitalized in the past 24-hours, 22 of them in intensive care units. Since the beginning of the pandemic seven months ago, 19,801 Ohioans have been hospitalized with COVID-19.
There have been 230,000 cases, and 5,428 deaths.
