COVID-19 cases in Highland County have gone up somewhat, according to the New York Times COVID Tracker. The tracker said Monday that the county was seeing 4.9 new cases per day, which is about 11 cases per 100,000 in population.
The last time The Times-Gazette reported on COVID-19 data, which was on Jan. 24, The New York Times COVID Tracker said the county was seeing 3.6 new cases per day, about 8.3 cases per 100,000 in population.
The tracker gave some of the latest trends for the county. It said that the community level of COVID-19 in the county is “low” based on cases and hospitalizations, according to the most recent Center for Disease Control (CDC) update on Jan. 26.
It also said the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has fallen in the county, with the number of deaths staying at “about the same level.”
The tracker also said the test positivity rate in Highland County is “high.”
“Higher test positivity rates are a sign that many infections are not reported — even if they are tested for at home,” the tracker said. “This results in a more severe under count of cases. The number of hospitalized patients with Covid is a more reliable measure because testing is more consistent in hospitals.”
The update also said an average of five cases were reported each day in the county, which was a 32-percent decrease compared to the average two weeks ago. It also said that since the beginning of the pandemic, the county has seen a total of 13,287 reported cases.
The New York Times COVID-19 Tracker gave a COVID-19 update on Jan. 26 for the U.S. as well. The tracker said that hospitalizations and reported cases are going down “in all but a few states and territories.” It also said that, nationally, both of those figures are down about 25 percent compared to two weeks ago.
The tracker said that the West is doing “particularly well,” as states like Montana and Utah have seen their lowest-ever cases and hospitalizations.
“Deaths have not seen the same improvement,” the tracker said. “Many states now report death data in weekly batches, which can make daily trends fickle. But the average number of deaths announced each day has remained at or above 500 for most of January — a troublingly high figure that is about double the number of daily deaths typically seen in a bad flu season.”
In other news, Highland County’s COVID-19 case rate stood at 164.5 cases per 100,000 in population over the previous two weeks, according to the Ohio Department of Health Coronavirus Dashboard, which was last updated Thursday. The case rate was above the state average of 122.6 cases per 100,000 in population over the same period, and ranks the county 23rd among the state’s 88 counties in terms of the highest case rates.
In terms of vaccinations, Highland County is currently at 41.18 percent of the county’s residents that have started their vaccines, according to the ODH COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard, which was last updated on Thursday. The state average for “vaccine started” is 64.69 percent.
In terms of completed vaccines, the state average is 59.97 percent, while the Highland County average is 38.17 percent.
The dashboard also said there have been 8,182 “first booster” doses and 3,130 “second booster” doses administered in the county on or after Aug. 12, to people that were already fully vaccinated.
It also said 3,007 people from Highland County have received the “updated bivalent booster.”
Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.
