Ashtabula County's COVID-19 situation 'precarious'
Apr. 23—Ashtabula County is once again in the top counties in the state for COVID-19 cases per capita after recently being well below the average.
Ashtabula County Health Commissioner Ray Saporito said the county has seen two consecutive weeks of large increases in COVID-19 cases.
"We believe a lot of this ... is being fueled by the UK COVID variant, which is much more transmissible than the first COVID-19 virus variant we dealt with," Saporito said. "And on top of that, we have confirmation of a second variant that's made its way into Ashtabula County, and that's the California variant."
Saporito said people returning from spring break trips may have contributed to the increase in cases.
The number of virus cases the county has per 100,000 people has increased significantly, Saporito said. Within the last four weeks, the county was in the middle of the pack when it comes to cases per capita, he said.
As of Thursday, Ashtabula County had a per capita case rate of 232, the ninth highest in the state, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
"That's very concerning, because we were relatively low just three weeks ago, and that's not the case now," Saporito said.
The Ohio Public Health Advisory System, which rates the COVID-19 situation in Ohio counties on a scale of level one to level four, had Ashtabula County at level three, or red, this week, up from level two last week.
The increase was due to the high incidence of COVID-19 cases in the county, an increase in the number of new cases reported, an increasing number of outpatient visits for COVID-19 symptoms and the number of cases in non-congregate settings, according to ODH.
ODH reports that 33.79 percent of county residents have received at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.
That leaves a significant percentage of the population unvaccinated, Saporito said.
The public health world uses risk benefit analysis, Saporito said.
"Nobody has a crystal ball on this, but right now, let's put it this way, it is precarious. That's the best word I would use," Saporito said.
Saporito recommended continuing to wear a mask even after you are vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control have released some confusing guidance, he said.
"People get confused, thinking 'well, now I'm vaccinated, I can do whatever I want, and all that, and they don't realize there is limitation, at this point," he said.
More than one million Ohioans have caught COVID-19 and 19,033 have died from the disease, according to ODH.
