By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Wood County dodged the bullet of moving into Level 4 (purple) in the state’s ranking system for the coronavirus. As of today, the county was moved off the purple watch list and back to Level 3 (red).
But avoiding the purple level does not mean that Wood County can relax its COVID prevention efforts, said Wood County Health Commissioner Ben Robison.
“We continue to see really high case rates,” Robison said this afternoon. In the past two weeks, the county recorded 975 new cases, which is about 745 cases per 100,000 residents.
As of this morning, Wood County Hospital is treating 10 COVID patients, according to Cristy Walton, vice president of development at Wood County Hospital.
“So far, staffing has not been an issue,” Walton said.
As of today, eight Ohio counties are in the purple rating – Montgomery, Richland, Lorain, Medina, Summit, Portage, Stark and Lake. According to the state, residents in purple areas should only leave home for necessary supplies and services.
Wood County avoided moving into purple due to it not surpassing medical admission numbers. Last week, the county had a sustained increase in new COVID-19 hospital admissions – which helped put the county on the purple watch list. But by this week, that number had gone down.
“That’s a good thing,” Robison said.
“We are still calling for vigilance in our residents,” he said. “We want to see people taking every action they can to limit activities.”
It doesn’t take much, Robison said, to overload hospitals – resulting in a change in how they deliver care, or what care they can deliver.
“We’re very aware the increasing numbers will be felt there. They could be overwhelmed very quickly,” he said. “I hope that people don’t think that because we stayed red that they can let up a bit.”
When a county reaches purple, it means it has met at least six of seven indicators of concern for COVID-19 spread for at least two consecutive weeks. As of this week, Wood County had met five of the seven indicators – all except the hospital admissions and the intensive care unit use.
The seven indicators are:
- New cases per capita: There have been more than 50 cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks.
- Sustained increase in new cases: At some time during the past three weeks, there were at least five consecutive days when the number of cases (by onset date) increased.
- Proportion of cases not in a congregate setting: The proportion of cases among people who are not residents of long-term care facilities, group homes, jails or prisons has been more than 50% in at least one of the past three weeks.
- Sustained increase in emergency department visits for COVID-19 like illness: At some point during the past three weeks, there were at least five consecutive days when the number of people making COVID-19 health care visits increased.
- Sustained increase in outpatient visits for COVID-19 like illness: At some time during the past three weeks, there were at least five consecutive days when the number of people making COVID-19 health care visits increased.
- Sustained increase in new COVID-19 hospital admissions: At some time during the past three weeks, there were at least five consecutive days when COVID-19 hospital admissions increased.
- Intensive care unit: The percentage of occupied ICU beds in the region was above 80% for at least three days during the past week and more than 20% of ICU beds were being used for COVID-19 patients for at least three days during the past week.
Wood County is now up to 5,573 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 since March, according to the Thursday, Dec. 3, update from the Wood County Health Department.
The number of active COVID cases in the county is now 396. Active cases are Wood County residents who are being monitored by the health department according to state and federal isolation criteria.
A total of 339 local residents have been hospitalized for the coronavirus since March, with two more being hospitalized since Tuesday.
The county has recorded a total of 113 deaths from COVID. Of those, one was in his 30s, two were in their 40s, three were in their 50s, 12 were in their 60s, 26 in their 70s, 47 in their 80s, and 22 in their 90s.
Meanwhile, Wood County Health Department is working with the state about COVID vaccination plans. The state has determined that the first two groups to get the vaccine will be health care workers and long-term care residents.
“We’re making all of the preparations to get it moved quickly,” Robison said.
It is possible that the county may be getting its first vaccines in mid-December.
Robison noted that people may experience side effects from the vaccine.
“These vaccines do come with side effects,” he said, adding that the effects are actually signs that immunity is being built.
For more details on each county’s indicators on the Ohio Public Health Advisory System, visit coronavirus.ohio.gov.
