State shatters monthly COVID-19 case mark | News, Sports, Jobs

Considerably more COVID-19 cases have been reported during just the first 19 days of January in Ohio than there had been for any full month since the start of the pandemic nearly two years ago.

The state had 423,110 COVID-19 cases reported for January through Wednesday. That’s already beaten the previous record for a full month, which occurred in December with 325,878 cases.

The Ohio Department of Health admitted Friday it wasn’t able to keep an accurate COVID-19 count because of the unprecedented amount of cases in recent weeks. It said it has “antiquated technical systems.”

That led to 41,455 cases reported Friday and 50,299 Saturday. Those are, by far, the highest daily number of cases reported during the pandemic.

But before that — and with the ODH admitting an undercount — the state was averaging close to 20,000 cases per day.

If 20,000 cases were reported for Friday and Saturday, there would be 371,356 cases for the first 19 days of January. That still would be more than any full month since the pandemic started in March 2020.

Also, the 423,110 COVID-19 cases reported during the first 19 days of January are more than all cases reported between February and August 2021.

The state has reported more than 18,000 COVID-19 cases daily since Dec. 29 except for Tuesday with 15,077. That likely was due to a lag caused by a combination of the weekend and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday.

The ODH reported 20,483 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday.

There have been 2,439,205 total COVID-19 cases reported in the state since the start of the pandemic.

The state dropped below 6,000 people in hospitals with COVID-19 Wednesday. It was the first time that happened since Jan. 2, according to Ohio Hospital Association statistics.

COVID-19 hospitalizations have declined daily since it peaked Jan. 10 at 6,749, according to OHA statistics.

One in every 3 patients in hospitals in Ohio has COVID-19, according to the OHA.