Ohio coronavirus cases up 10% in last week; see trends, update, including the percent vaccinated by county

CLEVELAND, Ohio - With the sharp winter decline in Ohio coronavirus cases over, there has been a spring uptick - with newly reported cases up about 10% in the last week.

The Ohio Department of Health through Monday has now reported 1,013,119 coronavirus cases, 52,817 hospitalizations and 18,526 deaths.

This includes 11,925 newly reported cases in the last week.

Vaccinations, meanwhile, have sharply increased with 35% of the state’s 16 and older population now having received at least one shot.

Here’s a closer look at the latest trends.

Hospitalizations

A total of 963 coronavirus patients were reported in Ohio hospitals on Monday. Though marking a significant improvement from a few months ago - there were a record 5,308 patients Dec. 15 - there has been little change this month.

The patient count has stayed within a range of 823 to 963 since March 5, according to daily surveys by the Ohio Hospital Association. The number is up from 854 a week ago.

Among Monday’s patients were 251 in intensive care units, up from 224 a week ago. The high was 1,318 on Dec. 15.

As vaccines started, with initial targeting of older Ohioans, younger people have made up a larger share of the hospitalizations. In January, those age 70 and older accounted for 49% of the admissions. In March, this age group accounts for 32%.

About 33% of the state’s hospital beds were vacant Monday, as well as 33% of the ICU beds - little change over recent weeks.

Vaccines

The state reported starting vaccines for 454,155, people in the last week, up from 431,824, 393,144, 309,434 and 236,727 and the previous four weeks.

The 3,276,391 vaccinations started through reporting on Monday means about 35% of Ohio’s population age 16 and up has received at least one shot. Younger people are not approved to receive vaccines.

These are estimates in part because the Ohio data for vaccines includes some people from other states such as those who work in Ohio - at least 78,931 so far - yet some Ohioans may have received vaccinations in other states.

Cases

Ohio reported an average of 1,704 cases a day in the last week.

This compares with averages of 1,551, 1,516, 1,550, 1,928, 2,016, 2,732, 3,295, 4,346 and 5,370 the last several weeks, and down from close to 6,700 a day at the end of December.

The counties with the most cases are Ohio’s three largest counties - Franklin (117,227 cases), Cuyahoga (101,402) and Hamilton (76,137). Case rates per 100 residents, hospitalizations and deaths for every county in Ohio can be found in the chart at the bottom of this story.

Deaths

The state has now reported 18,526 deaths caused by the coronavirus, though the total likely is an undercount by hundreds, if not thousands.

The Ohio Department of Health announced on March 2 that it was dropping efforts to track deaths in a timely manner, saying the change would delay death reporting by up to six months in some cases. The health department is now awaiting details from the federal Centers for Disease Controls for all deaths, and updates are now being made just twice a week.

Illustrating how far the paperwork now lags, the state is not yet reporting any deaths that occurred in the last week, and just 20 since mid-March.

To date, the state has reported 205 deaths in March, 1,260 in February, 3,616 in January and 5,442 in December.

The counties for which the most deaths have been reported are Cuyahoga (1,991), Franklin (1,316) and Hamilton (1,142).

Among the dead are at least 7,055 patients of nursing homes and other long-term facilities statewide, according to the the state’s last update on Wednesday. This was down from 7,462 earlier this month, as the state removed hundreds of deaths in changing the way fatalities are reported. Most of these will be added back later once the paperwork is processed by the CDC.

Demographics

Three-in-four of the deaths have been to people age 70 and older, breaking down this way: under age 20 (5), in their 20s (22), in their 30s (93), in their 40s (251), in their 50s (903), in their 60s (2,641), in their 70s (4,977) and at least 80 years old (9,634).

Those age 80 and up have accounted for 52% of the known coronavirus deaths, in comparison to 44% of all known Ohio deaths in 2018. Those in their 70s have accounted for 27% of the coronavirus deaths, in comparison to 21% of all Ohio deaths in 2018 ahead of the virus.

But for hospitalizations, the cases are more spread out age-wise: under age 20 (1,273), in their 20s (2,064), in their 30s (2,707), in their 40s (4,134), in their 50s (7,540), in their 60s (11,357), in their 70s (12,486) and at least 80 years old (11,256).

For the deaths in which race was reported, 86% of the people are white, and 12% are Black. For total cases, 75% are white and 13% Black.

Ohio’s overall population is 82% white and 13% Black. But among Ohioans at least 70 years old - the age group accounting for three-quarters of the deaths - Ohio is 89% white and 9% Black.

Case milestones and testing

The first three cases were confirmed on March 9. The total topped 100,000 on Aug. 9, 250,000 on Nov. 8, 500,000 on Dec. 8, and 1 million on March 22.

Among the cases reported to date are 153,696 listed as “probable,” those cases included by a wider variety of tests or identified through non-testing evidence. This total is up from 149,946 last week.

The state reported 10,938,593 tests to date, including 214,267 in the last week, in comparison to 216,174 the previous week.

The chart below is based on the most recent case data from the Ohio Department of Health. Cleveland.com calculated the cases per 100 rates based on 2019 census population estimates.

Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner. See other data-related stories at cleveland.com/datacentral.

Some mobile users may have to use this link instead to see the county-by-county details in the chart above.

Previous coverage

See case rates by ZIP code

See coronavirus cases by day for each Ohio county, including per capita and cases in last seven days

Ohio deaths in 2020 increased by nearly 20,000, latest data shows

Ohio reports 34 coronavirus cases to vaccinated individuals among 400,000 cases statewide since shots began