Health advisory for county drops to orange

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Delaware County is no longer in the red, according to the State of Ohio’s Public Health Advisory System.

The Ohio Department of Health has four levels of severity, based on the number of coronavirus cases reported. Purple is the worst, red is next at level 3, followed by orange at level 2 and then yellow. Delaware, along with the other counties in central Ohio, are at orange — increased exposure and spread of COVID-19.

On Thursday afternoon, the Ohio Department of Health said the following counties were in the red: Ashland, Butler, Clermont, Hamilton, Mercer, Montgomery, Muskingum, Pike, Putnam, Richland, and Scioto. No county has reached level 4 on the advisory system map, which was instituted in July.

On Friday afternoon, the Delaware General Health District reported 2,100 total cases of COVID-19. That number is the sum of 1,791 confirmed cases and 309 probable cases. There are 176 active cases, up 20 from Monday. Active cases are defined as people currently infected with the novel coronavirus, a combination of confirmed cases (lab-tested positive results) and probable cases (exhibiting symptoms that include chills, cough, fever, muscle pain, new loss of taste or smell, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, and sore throat).

Since reporting began in March, 4,573 people have completed isolation, and 531 people are currently in quarantine. In addition, three people are currently hospitalized, and there have been 48 total hospitalizations. The age range remains 1 to 90, with the median age of the total cases at 31, and 51% of the cases are female.

A 17th death in Delaware County due to the novel coronavirus was reported Friday. “Sadly, another death has been reported to us. We send our deepest sympathy and condolences to the family at this time,” the DGHD said in a Facebook post.

On Friday afternoon, the Ohio Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard listed 2,393 total cases of COVID-19 in Delaware County. There have been 100 hospitalizations and 23 deaths in the county. The DGHD states the discrepancies in totals between it and the ODH are because the portions of Columbus, Dublin and Westerville that are in Delaware County are being handled by either Columbus Public Health or Franklin County Public Health.

Of Ohio’s 88 counties, neighboring Franklin County has the most cases with 27,770. Cuyahoga County, with the second-most cases at 17,796, has the most hospitalizations (2,608) and deaths (663) due to the novel coronavirus.

The ODH reported there were 156,809 positive cases in the state as of Friday, up more than 5,000 since Monday. A total of 135,301 are presumed to have recovered; 15,688 people have been hospitalized; and 4,905 Ohioans have died from the infectious disease.

The Johns Hopkins University of Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center said there have been more than 34.4 million reported cases of COVID-19 worldwide, up 1.2 million since Monday. Globally, there have been a million deaths from the pandemic. In the United States, there are now nearly 7.3 million confirmed cases. A total of 208,191 Americans have died from the novel coronavirus.

“President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, he said Friday,” reports Associated Press. Trump was in Ohio Tuesday to participate in the first of three proposed presidential debates. “The positive test comes a month until the election … Trump is 74 years old, putting him at higher risk of serious complications from a virus that has now killed more than 205,000 people nationwide.”

For more information on the pandemic, visit DelawareHealth.org/Covid-19, coronavirus.ohio.gov or cdc.gov/coronavirus.

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By Gary Budzak

[email protected]

Gary Budzak may be reached at 740-413-0906 or on Twitter @GaryBudzak.

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