Ohio's top doctor says there is 'light at the end of the tunnel' for COVID-19 omicron wave

The omicron wave in Ohio seems to be receding, Ohio Department of Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff said in his COVID-19 update Thursday.

"There is light at the end of the tunnel," he said but noted that many hospitals are still facing a serious strain. "We're cautiously optimistic that we may be reaching the other side."

The number of people in Ohio hospitals with COVID-19 has dropped from a peak of 6,749 on Jan. 10 to 5,004 Wednesday.

But hospital leaders said they're waiting for all COVID-19 metrics to drop down, not just hospitalizations. Recently, case levels have reached close to 20,000 daily.

While the number of people entering the emergency room has gone down, the system still saw the highest number of deaths last week, said Dr. Brian Kaminski with Toledo-based ProMedica. Capacity is still above 90%.

"The stresses are still definitely not over," he said.

Broken down by region, the picture is more varied but still hopeful. Northern Ohio has seen a dramatically sharp decrease in hospitalizations, while central Ohio has seen a relatively smaller decrease.

Omicron, on the other hand, has shifted more to southern Ohio, which has not seen a decrease in hospitalization levels, according to state data. It's staying level.

"We’ve been stable now for over a little more than a week, maybe starting to trend down,” said Dr. Stephen Feagins, chief clinical officer for Mercy Health Cincinnati.

More than 2,000 Ohio National Guard members are still deployed to help overwhelmed hospitals, and more units are being shifted to the southern part of the state.

COVID-19 testing sites in Canton, Cleveland and Akron closed earlier this month with decreased demand. As of this week, the vast majority of National Guard-supported testing sites were now in central or southern Ohio.

Vanderhoff also addressed questions on recent guidance changes allowing schools to discontinue contact tracing.

"What we’re advising parents is that the exposure is everywhere," he said, given how contagious omicron is. "The reality is there is virtually no school” able to do universal contract tracing.

Titus Wu is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: ODH on Omicron COVID wave: 'There is light at the end of the tunnel'