Highland County COVID-19 cases drop recently

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COVID-19 cases in Highland County have fallen, according to the New York Times COVID Tracker. The tracker said Monday that the county was seeing 7.4 new cases per day, which is about 17 cases per 100,000 in population.

The last time The Times-Gazette reported on COVID-19 data, which was on Dec. 16, The New York Times COVID Tracker said the county was seeing 10 new cases per day, about 24 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 “medium” based on cases and hospitalizations, according to the most recent Center for Disease Control (CDC) update on Jan. 12.

It also said the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has risen 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 “very 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 said an average of seven cases were reported each day in the county, which was “about the same” compared to the average two weeks ago. It also said that since the beginning of the pandemic, the county has seen a total of 13,228 reported cases.

The New York Times COVID-19 Tracker gave a COVID-19 update on Jan. 13 for the U.S. as well. The tracker said that regional differences are “increasingly driving” the state of the virus in the country.

It said that on the East Coast, cases and hospitalizations are “notably” going up and because of those area’s larger populations, it is “enough” to move up national figures. The tracker said that the Carolinas have been “especially hard hit,” as new cases are almost twice as high as a month ago.

However, in the West, “many” of the metrics are flat or going down, with states like South Dakota and Wyoming close to all-time lows in reported cases and hospitalizations.

“Deaths are rising, but data anomalies in recent reporting may have inflated these counts,” the tracker said.

In other news, Highland County’s COVID-19 case rate stood at 296.6 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 177.9 cases per 100,000 in population over the same period, and ranks the county seventh among the state’s 88 counties in terms of the highest case rates.

In terms of vaccinations, Highland County is currently at 41.19 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 64.65 percent.

In terms of completed vaccines, the state average is 59.92 percent, while the Highland County average is 38.17 percent.

The dashboard also said there have been 8,173 “first booster” doses and 3,108 “second booster” doses administered in the county on or after Aug. 12, to people that were already fully vaccinated.

It also said 2,964 people from Highland County have received the “updated bivalent booster.”

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.

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