Tuscarawas County sets records for new COVID cases in a week, number of active cases

Tuscarawas County set two records in the COVID-19 pandemic last week.

The county had 1,098 new cases of COVID during the seven-day period ending Friday, according to the Tuscarawas County Health Department.

"That is the highest number of new cases in a seven-day period of the whole pandemic," said Jennifer Demuth, director of health promotion and community relations for the Tuscarawas County Health Department.

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Friday also saw the highest daily number of active COVID cases in the county during the entire pandemic, 2,365, meaning that 2.5 percent of the county's population of 93,263 had COVID on Friday. A total of 18,346 cases had been recorded in the county overall as of Friday, representing about a fifth of the county's population.

Cumulative hospitalizations of Tuscarawas County COVID sufferers rose by 26 in the seven-day period ending Friday, for a total of 1,201 during the entire pandemic.

Also Friday, the death count among the county's known COVID cases was 423, an increase of nine from the previous 414 total as of Jan. 7. That took the county's death rate among COVID cases to 2.3%, down a 10th of a percent from the 2.4% recorded Jan. 7. As of Friday, the death rate among COVID-19 cases in Tuscarawas County exceeded the 1.3% death rate in Ohio, the 1.3 % death rate in the U.S. and the 1.7% death rate globally, according to Demuth.

How long has Tuscarawas County's death rate exceeded those of the state?

Tuscarawas County's first record of a death rate higher than the state, U.S., and world was during the week ending Dec. 31, 2020 when the county's death rate was 2.6%, Ohio was at 1.3%, the U.S. was at 1.8%, and the world was at 2.3%, according to the county health department's spokeswoman.

An analysis of deaths per capita in Ohio counties shows that rural counties tend to have higher death rates than their urban counterparts, according to Demuth.

She said the best way to make true comparisons of county-level death rate data is look at deaths per 100,000 residents. Data journalism website Stacker published the top 50 Ohio counties with the highest death rates per capita on Thursday. Tuscarawas County ranked second. Rankings of neighboring counties were Harrison, sixth; Coshocton, 16th; Carroll, 18th; Stark, 19th; and Holmes, 21st. Guernsey County was not in the top 50.

What's behind the high death rate?

The county health department's spokesman offered some explanations for the high COVID death rate in Tuscarawas County.

The age of the county's population is a factor. The U.S. Census shows the over-65 population at 20% in the county, 17.5% in the state and 16.5% in the U.S. as a whole. The over-65 population accounts for 8.5% of all persons worldwide, according to National Institute on Aging.

Research shows that older individuals tend to be more vulnerable to severe forms of COVID-19, Demuth said.

Most of the county's deaths have been among its most senior residents. As of Tuesday, Tuscarawas County had the following numbers of deaths by age group: 0-19, none; 20-29, two; 30-39, none; 40-49, 15; 50-59, 26; 60-69, 65; 70-79, 113; and 80-plus, 194; according to the county health department.

The Ohio Department of Health reported Friday that 148, or 35%, of the county's 423 COVID deaths occurred among residents of long-term care facilities.

A window into the effect of age and vaccination on the death rate is provided by a report about the county's COVID-19 mortality for the last six months of 2021, when 161 deaths were recorded. The unvaccinated accounted for 72% of the deaths. The fully vaccinated accounted for 28%. Those who died included a 96-year-old who was vaccinated with a booster dose. Among the vaccinated persons who died, the average age was 78, with 44 percent being long-term care residents. For the unvaccinated persons who died, the average age was 70, with 6% being residents of long-term care.

Demuth said the death rate in the latter half of 2021 had something to do with the availability of vaccine boosters.

"What happened was we had a high spike in cases ... back in September," Demuth said. "At that point, the booster was only just being approved. So, what we had were a lot of people, especially older, more vulnerable individuals, who are naturally more vulnerable to COVID anyway, get COVID when they did not have a booster.

"The booster initially was recommended at six months. A lot of the older individuals were vaccinated in January and February, so by September, it had been more than six months. Vaccines ... do lose their effectiveness quicker in older adults. Unfortunately, a lot of people became ill before they could get a booster. A lot of those people were older individuals," Demuth said.

Other explanations for the county's death rate among COVID cases are:

• Symptomatic people not seeking medical care until the virus has progressed too far. "Some people tend to wait to seek care due to a lack of healthcare insurance, lack of a medical provider, or lack of access to a medical provider close to their homes," Demuth said.

• Prevalence of the more dangerous delta variant over omicron. "In Tuscarawas County, we are still seeing a lot of delta variant activity, but omicron variant cases are increasing," Demuth said.

• Severely ill people not seeking emergency medical care. "We have heard of people who chose not to seek emergency care due to longer wait times," Demuth said.

• Chronic health conditions. "We know that Tuscarawas County has a high number of residents with chronic conditions, and people who suffer from chronic conditions are more susceptible to severe cases of COVID-19," Demuth said. "Chronic conditions that we see most often in Tuscarawas County residents include obesity, diabetes, breathing disorders, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol."

A 2018 county health needs assessment showed that Tuscarawas County residents had higher rates of unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, drinking, lack of nutritious eating and a sedentary lifestyle.

"These unhealthy behaviors can also elevate a person's risk for having a more serious case of COVID-19," Demuth said.

How concerned should citizens be?

"Regardless of vaccination status, now is the time to take action and re-commit to the layered safety measures of wearing masks when out in public, staying home if you are sick, washing hands often, socially distancing, avoiding crowds, and choosing to get vaccinated or boosted when eligible," said Katie Seward, Tuscarawas County health commissioner. "Since September of 2021, Tuscarawas County has been identified by the CDC as a 'red county,' which signifies an area of high COVID-19 transmission, and our case rates have only climbed since our county was elevated to red status."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly recommends that everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear a mask when out in public in areas of high transmission.

"Locally, there seems to be a number of vaccinated persons who do not know masks are recommended even for the vaccinated," Demuth said.

What is being done to address the death rate?

The Tuscarawas County Health Department continues to share COVID-19 case information with the public on a regular basis to create awareness, Demuth said.

"We promote protective measures to help slow the spread of the virus," she said. "Our aim is never to scare people but to increase knowledge so county residents can make the best choices to protect themselves and those they love. We also provide COVID-19 testing services for early detection of the virus and COVID-19 vaccines to aide in prevention of severe forms of the virus."

She said the county health department works with local hospitals, the Emergency Management Agency, the New Philadelphia City Health Department, and numerous community organizations and businesses to share data and safety recommendations.

What should residents do?

"Vaccines are a critically important tool in the fight against COVID-19, but it will take more than vaccines to lower the negative impact of the virus on our community," said Seward. "To decrease our death rate, we need a community-wide effort. Public health can supply virus prevention and containment measures; hospitals and healthcare providers can render treatment; but we cannot defeat this virus on our own. We need organizations and individuals to take ownership by following protective measures to reduce hospitalizations and deaths."

Vaccine statistics for Tuscarawas County, Ohio & the US

As of Friday, about 45% of Tuscarawas County residents had received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 42% of the population had received their second dose and completed vaccination. Additionally, 47% of fully vaccinated persons had received a booster.

In Ohio, about 61% of the population has received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and about 56% of the population have completed vaccination by receiving the second dose. In the U.S. nearly 75% have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with nearly 63% having completed vaccination.

Demuth is urging everyone to get a booster, if eligible, because research shows that the effectiveness of initial doses wears off by five months for the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines and two months for the J & J shot.

Tuscarawas County's Vaccine Access Team has added clinics to administer COVID-19 vaccines to anyone age 5 and older through June.

Available vaccines will be Pfizer for 5 and up and Moderna for 18 and older. Booster doses of the Pfizer/Comirnaty vaccine will be available for those who are eligible.

Locations, dates and times are:

• St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Family Life Center, 613 N. Tuscarawas Ave., Dover, 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 10.

• Allied Machine & Engineering, 485 W. Third St., Dover, 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Tuesday and Feb. 15.

• Tuscarawas County Senior Center, 425 Prospect St., Dover, 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. March 10 and April 7.

• Bolivar Public Library, 455 Water St. SW, Bolivar, 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. March 14 and April 11.

• Claymont Senior Center, 633 N. Main St., Uhrichsville, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. March 24 and April 21.

• Garaway Senior Center, 221 Dover Road, Sugarcreek, 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. March 25 and April 22.

• Tuscora Park, New Philadelphia, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. April 6 and May 4.

• McDonald’s, 3384 Davis Road, Dover, 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. May 17 and June 14.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Tuscarawas County has 2.3% COVID case death rate