Ohio Department of Health releases updated COVID-19 case rate data

New COVID-19 case rate data that looks back over the two weeks from Oct. 7-20 shows Lorain County remains in the bottom half of Ohio counties in terms of new coronavirus cases per capita. The data, which is updated and released online on Thursdays by the Ohio Department of Health, showed Lorain County had a rate of 413.8 new cases per 100,000 population over those two weeks, below the statewide average of 419.2 and ranking 62nd highest of Ohio's 88 counties. All counties in Ohio are still considered to have "high" rates of coronavirus transmission under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definition, meaning 100 or more cases per 100,000 population or a positivity rate of 10 percent or higher. The Ohio Department of Health data showed Ohio counties ranged from a low of 248.1 cases per 100,000 population over the two weeks from Oct. 7 to 20 in Delaware County, all the way up to 1,039.2 cases per 100,000 population in Guernsey County. On Thursday alone, the state health department reported 4,084 new cases across Ohio, slightly below the 21-day average of 4,657 new cases per day. New hospitalizations for the virus and intensive care unit admissions were above the 21-day averages, however. The Ohio Department of Health reported 275 new hospitalizations Thursday compared with the 21-day average of 246, and 46 new ICU admissions compared with the 21-day average of 23. Data provided to the Ohio Department of Health by the Ohio Hospital Association showed that as of Thursday, there were 2,790 COVID-positive patients occupying inpatient hospital beds across the state, including 807 in ICUs and 501 on ventilators. Factoring in the 18,017 patients hospitalized in Ohio for reasons other than COVID-19, that left 5,443 overall inpatient beds available across the state, including 900 ICU beds and 3,001 ventilators.