As of Monday, Highland County has had a total of 210 lab-confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases, according to the Highland County Health Department.
In a previous Facebook post, the health department stated that probable cases “includes clinical presentation, epidemiological link, or FDA-approved antigen/antibody test.” As of Friday, the health department had documented 16 such cases in Highland County since the pandemic began.
As of Monday, the health department reported that there are currently nine actively sick patients and one COVID-19-related hospitalization, and the health department is currently monitoring 35 people for symptoms.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak reached Highland County, there have been a total of 24 COVID-19-related hospitalizations and three COVID-19-related deaths, and 198 patients have recovered from COVID-19.
According to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), which reported 190 cases in the county as of Monday, of the cases in Highland County:
* 33 cases involved 40- to 49-year-olds, three of whom were hospitalized.
* 32 cases involved 60- to 69-year-olds, four of whom were hospitalized.
* 31 cases involved 50- to 59-year-olds, three of whom were hospitalized.
* 28 cases involved 70- to 79-year-olds, eight of whom were hospitalized and one of whom later died.
* 27 cases involved 20- to 29-year-olds, one of whom was hospitalized.
* 18 cases involved 30- to 39-year-olds, one of whom was hospitalized.
* 17 cases involved 0- to 19-year-olds, one of whom was hospitalized.
* Three cases involved someone 80 years old or older, all of whom were hospitalized and two of whom later died.
* One case involved someone of an unknown age range.
As of Monday, there had been 123,157 total COVID-19 cases throughout Ohio since the pandemic began — 13,376 of which resulted in hospitalization and 4,138 of which resulted in death. A total of 102,631 patients are presumed recovered, which the ODH defines as cases that have over 21 days since the onset of COVID-19 symptoms and that did not result in death.
As of Thursday, Highland County remains at a level 1 public emergency, which represents active COVID-19 exposure and spread.
Highland County was upgraded to a level 2 public emergency, which represents increased COVID-19 exposure and spread, in mid-July and remained a level 2 until last week.
Nearby, Ross County was also downgraded from a level 2 to a level 1 last week but returned to a level 2 on Thursday.
As of Thursday, Highland County still met one risk indicator: the risk indicator for the proportion of cases in a non-congregate setting, or “Indicator 3.”
Congregate settings include nursing homes.
The ODH uses risk indicators to monitor counties for increased COVID-19 activity. For more information about risk indicators and ODH’s public health advisory system, visit coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/public-health-advisory-system/.
For more information on the COVID-19 pandemic in Ohio, visit coronavirus.ohio.gov.
According to a press release from the office of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, last week:
* DeWine announced that the Ohio Department of Health will be issuing an order that requires K-12 schools to establish a mechanism for parents and guardians to report confirmed cases of COVID-19 among their children.
The order will require schools to notify parents and guardians in writing about each case and include as much information as possible without disclosing protected health information. Schools should also make non-identifying information about positive COVID-19 cases publicly available.
“Prompt reporting will help prevent potential further spread among students and staff,” DeWine said. “Knowing this information can help parents make informed decisions in regard to risks and exposure for their families.”
The forthcoming order will also direct all K-12 schools to report confirmed cases to their local health department, which will then report new cases and cumulative case data for students and teachers to the Ohio Department of Health.
* DeWine announced that Ohio is pausing its work to test residents and staff at assisted living facilities through saliva testing instead of nasal swabs due to inconsistent test results. The Ohio Department of Health will investigate the issue through controlled validation testing to determine if the irregularities can be attributed to the test kits themselves, the labs, or the specimen collection process.
* Lt. Governor Husted announced that the current sports order has been modified to clarify that participants shall not compete in more than one contest or game in any calendar day, as compared to the 24-hour period outlined in the original order. The goal of this adjustment in language is to assist organizers and teams when scheduling games or contests.
Reach McKenzie Caldwell at 937-402-2570.
