NEWS

7,863 new COVID-19 cases reported while Ohio says deaths dropped on Saturday

Theodore Decker
The Columbus Dispatch

New coronavirus cases dropped on Saturday as Ohioans began their first weekend under Gov. Mike DeWine's mandated statewide overnight curfew, although the number remains nearly twice as high as daily totals from just three weeks ago.

The state reported 7,863 new cases on Saturday. Ohio has hovered between 7,000 and 8,000 cases a day over the last week until the number jumped above 8,000 on Friday.

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The state also reported Saturday another 29 deaths and 260 new hospitalizations from the coronavirus. Both those categories are down from numbers posted on Friday, when 65 deaths and 398 new hospitalizations were reported. Another 34 patients were reported to have been admitted to intensive care units on Saturday.

Numbers could grow

Saturday's new cases, down from 8,808 on Friday, do not account for a backlog of about 12,000 less reliable rapid antigen tests that the state is double-checking. The state always verifies those tests, but the number performed on a daily basis has exploded from hundreds to thousands, making it difficult to check within 24 hours.

The state reported that 3,987 Ohioans were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Saturday. The seven-day average positive rate on tests, 13.2%, was the highest since late April, when testing was limited. The latest available day (Thursday) resulted in 13.8% positive tests.

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Ohio's response

The sustained spike in cases pushed DeWine this week to implement the curfew and to travel the state to encourage Ohioans to limit their contacts, wear masks and abide by the curfew to help stop the rapid spread of the virus.

A medic directs a patient at a COVID-19 testing site on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020 at PrimaryOne Health in Columbus, Ohio. The testing site, a pop-up site staffed by medics from the Ohio National Guard and PrimaryOne Health employees, had lines that stretched for a half-mile from the testing site, with wait times for patients up to two hours or more.

And local governments around the state have issued stay-at-home advisories for residents, including those in Franklin County, where the state on Thursday gave a purple warning designation for the first time.

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The statewide curfew started Thursday and runs from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. for 21 days until Dec. 10. Franklin County's advisory was to begin at 6 p.m. Friday. The order does not close businesses, but it does require Ohioans to stay at home during those hours, with several exemptions, including for those seeking medical treatment, picking up takeout food, going to work and shopping for groceries.

tdecker@dispatch.com

@Theodore_Decker

See the Ohio COVID-19 county map