Northeast Ohio 'Not Out Of The Woods' With COVID-19 Surge
OHIO — COVID-19 cases continue to surge statewide but there are promising signs that northeast Ohio's spike is slowing, health officials said Thursday morning.
"There are many signs of improvement in Ohio's hardest hit areas," said Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, director of the Ohio Department of Health. He then cautioned Northeast Ohioans to not breathe a sigh of relief just yet.
Greater Cleveland was one of the first regions in the nation to see an omicron-fueled surge, with record-breaking numbers of new cases and hospitalizations developing between late November and mid-January. Yet, there are signs of light at the end of the tunnel.
COVID-19 hospitalizations fell 24 percent in the Cleveland-area last week, Vanderhoff noted Thursday. The region's COVID-19 positivity rate has been sliced in half, falling from 34 percent to 17 percent, meaning fewer COVID-19 tests are coming back positive in Cuyahoga County, according to the Cuyahoga County Board of Health.
Hospitals aren't in the clear yet though, according to Dr. Alice Kim, director of medical operations at the Cleveland Clinic. There are still high-numbers of COVID-19 patients occupying hospital beds, staffing shortages to contend with and other illnesses beginning to rear their heads.
"We're still in the thick of it, in terms of case numbers, even though there are encouraging indicators that we are headed in a more favorable direction," Vanderhoff said. "We're still looking at numbers that are north of what we saw during our peak surge in 2020. We still have a long way to go."
Not Out of the Woods
Even as the omicron-fueled COVID-19 surge possibly winds down in Northeast Ohio, other parts of the state are starting their own spikes.
"Demand for health care services is still at an all-time high statewide," Vanderhoff said.
Vanderhoff said southern and western Ohio are now seeing record-breaking surges. Ohio is still averaging more than 22,000 new COVID-19 cases per day, and on Wednesday at least 689 Ohioans were hospitalized due to COVID-19. That's the second most hospitalizations recorded in a single day since the pandemic began.
Officials believe Ohioans should continue to follow commonsense health and safety protocols, namely: wear a mask in indoor settings, maintain social distancing whenever possible, wash your hands frequently and avoid touching your face.
Anyone who is eligible should get vaccinated or receive their vaccine booster, Vanderhoff added.
This article originally appeared on the Cleveland Patch
