Six people have died due to COVID-19 (the coronavirus) this week, bringing the total to 53 in Delaware County. Two of the deaths were reported Wednesday, and four more were reported on Friday.
“We send our heartfelt condolences to all the families during this very difficult time,” the Delaware Public Health District posted on Facebook.
Before noon Friday, the district announced it is “scheduled to receive an initial shipment of COVID-19 vaccine early next week.”
According to the health district, Delaware County EMS employees will receive the first doses.
“As more vaccine is provided, the health district will focus on congregate living facilities and private health care offices not connected to a hospital system,” the DPHD stated. “Vaccines will only be given to those who choose to receive it. The general public is currently not included in Phase 1A, therefore not eligible to receive the vaccine at this point in time.”
The number of total cases of coronavirus is now at 8,104, the sum of 6,742 confirmed cases (positive test results) and 1,362 probable cases (showing symptoms of COVID-19). Active cases fell from 1,505 on Wednesday to 1,413 on Friday.
Forty people are currently hospitalized, and 164 people have been hospitalized since numbers were reported in March, the DPHD reported Friday afternoon. There have been 12,763 people who have completed quarantine, and 2,412 people are currently in isolation. The district said there are 6,638 people who have recovered from the coronavirus, meaning they were released from isolation.
The DPHD Facebook page has a one-minute video that was posted on Wednesday.
“Listen to four Ohio nurses share their experiences dealing with COVID-19 as they beg the public to take this virus seriously,” the post states. “Nothing is more important than your life or the life of a loved one!”
The Ohio Department of Health’s coronavirus dashboard noted Friday that Delaware County has the 15th-most cases of Ohio’s 88 counties with 9,549. That’s up more than 500 cases since Monday. The ODH lists 150 hospitalizations and 54 deaths in Delaware County. The DPHD 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.
Neighboring Franklin County now has 73,651 cases of coronavirus as of Friday afternoon. That’s up more than 3,000 since Monday. The ODH said Cuyahoga County, which is second-most in cases, has the most hospitalizations (4,159) and deaths (842).
There have been 7,967 Ohioans who have died from COVID-19. There are 34,143 Ohioans who have been hospitalized from the infectious disease. On a positive note, there are 430,621 presumed recoveries, up 38,000 since the start of the week.
The Johns Hopkins University of Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center posted Friday afternoon there were 75.2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, up from 72.5 million on Monday. Globally, 1,669,033 people have died from the coronavirus. The United States leads all countries with 17.2 million confirmed cases (up 16.3 million on Monday) and 311,993 deaths (up from 299,737 deaths on Monday).
Comparing the coronavirus to America’s wars, only World War II (405,399 deaths) and the American Civil War (an estimated 625,000 deaths) were deadlier, according to Wikipedia.
For more information on the pandemic, visit DelawareHealth.org/Covid-19, coronavirus.ohio.gov or cdc.gov/coronavirus, or www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019. The DGHD’s 24/7 emergency line is 740-815-6518, and the ODH call center is 1-833-4ASK-ODH.
