As county, state report additional cases, El Centro and University Hospitals warn COVID-19 'cure' is a scam

LORAIN — A homemade liquid that is being sold in the local Latino community as a COVID-19 "cure" is a scam, El Centro and University Hospitals warned Tuesday. University Hospitals cautioned the bottles are being sold without labels and the ingredients are unknown. The liquid is claimed to prevent and cure COVID-19. El Centro Director Victor Leandry said the remedy has been sold in Mexico and Latin American countries for quite some time during the pandemic, but he only became aware recently of it being sold in the Lorain area within the last week or so. He said it's mostly being sold to people who might be undocumented or don't speak English. "One of my fears is that we don't know who's preparing it or what's even in it," he said. Leandry said El Centro plans to get a bottle, which he said retailed for $100, and give it to Lorain County Public Health for analysis. El Centro said the unknown liquid, which people said had a pungent smell, is dangerous for people and their families. There is no known cure for COVID-19. Vaccines are the only thing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized for emergency use against COVID-19. Leandry wants to reiterate as well the vaccine is free and publicly available to everyone. As of Tuesday, more than one-third of Lorain County's population had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to an online dashboard from the Ohio Department of Health. More than 103,300 people have had at least one shot in the county, and more than 58,400 have received all recommended doses. Ohio as a whole reported similar vaccination rates. More than 3.77 million people in Ohio (32.29 percent of the state population) had received at least one dose, while more than 2.22 million (19.02 percent of the state population) have had all recommended doses. While the number of vaccinated Ohioans continues to rise, new cases of coronavirus are still reported daily. Lorain County Public Health reported 24 new cases of the virus on Tuesday. The Ohio Department of Health also reported 20 new probable cases in the county. Lorain County Public Health has confirmed at least 384 deaths as a result of COVID-19 in the county. The agency typically updates its count of virus deaths Wednesday afternoons. Across Ohio, there have now been cumulative totals since the start of the pandemic of 870,273 confirmed cases, 158,527 probable cases, 53,561 coronavirus hospitalizations, 7,472 intensive care unit admissions and 18,741 Ohio resident deaths from COVID-19.