May 28, 2020

A review of Ohio infections and deaths by race as reported by the COVID Tracking project shows that as of yesterday, whites accounted for 52 percent of infections while African Americans accounted for 25 percent and other and unknown race designations accounted for 23 percent of infections. The disproportionate representation of African Americans in the total cases is consistent with patterns noted throughout the Country. Surprisingly, Whites accounted for 80 percent of fatalties while African Americans only accounted for 17 percent of total COVID-19 deaths.

A comparison of COVID-19 fatalities for May 21 and May 28 reveals there have been 2,098 deaths, a 14 percent increase of this time last week.

May 26, 2020

As of May 26, 2020 there have been 33,006 reported cases of COVID-19 reported for the state of Ohio. Tragically, the Ohio Department of Health is also reporting deaths now exceed 2,000. While expected, it is nonetheless shocking. Analysis of total infections and cases per 100,000 by county shows the Southeast Counties to be the least affected (with the exception of recent outbreaks in the Belmont and Hocking County areas). Total cases are still largely concentrated in the urban areas.

Analysis of daily cases over time shows that infections since May 1st are drifting slowly downward. 

May 21, 2020

Today's COVID-19 blog examines COVID-19 fatalities through 5-21-20. The data continues to show that a disproportionate number of Ohio COVID-19 fatalities are among older Ohioans with 92 percent of all deaths accounted for by persons 60 and older. Conversely, no deaths have yet been recorded for persons under 20 and only 5 deaths (.3 percent) have been recorded for persons under thirty.

There have been more male fatalities (968) than female (867) and males tend to die somewhat younger. This would suggest that males are more likely to experience underlying diseases that would make them more vulnerable to the virus.

Over the last week, COVID-19 related fatalities increased by 19.7%. Take a look at the following tables and graphs for a more in-depth review of COVID-19 fatalities.

Webinar Information!

Ohio University and the Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health will be hosting a webinar on Wednesday, June 24, 2020 from 12-1p. Join partners from around Ohio for Alliance Engagement in Community Impacted Initiatives. Registration is free at https://ohio.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eP9A04mGhBmbNHf.

May 18, 2020

Several readers have recently commented on how the change in day-to-day infections in most counties is small. So starting today, we will produce a week-to week comparison of infections for Monday and and another week-to week comparison of fatalities at the end of the week. We will continue to include a second report that covers another area of interest in these twice weekly reports. Please let us know what aspect of the pandemic you are most interested in, and we will do our best to obtain data and cover the topic.

For today's report we looked at how Ohio performed in comparison to the U.S. as a whole in deploying COVID-19 testing. While this is a complicated area and there are a number of different potential measures, our cursory analysis shows that Ohio's rate of increased testing was slightly better than the national average. 

A comparison of infections for 5-11 and 5-18 shows that statewide infections increased by 14.7 percent for the seven day period. Several counties in the Southeast, most notably Hocking, experienced growth rates that dramatically exceeded state averages. This is consistent with national reports that suggest slowing growth rates in urban communities and upticks in rural areas that have been previously less affected.

May 15, 2020

Analysis of Ohio COVID-19 infections and deaths since March 1st shows slow but steady growth for both categories through mid April, with a significant spike in counts caused by exponential spread in two (2) Central Ohio state prisons. As a result, infections have continued to occur at a steady but much lower pace while deaths have broadly declined.

As of May 15th there were 26,954 cases and 1,581 deaths. These numbers represent 2.3 and 3.1 percent increases over counts recorded for the previous day.

May 14, 2020

As of May 14, 2020 there are 26,357 Ohioans that have been infected with the COVID-19 Virus and 1,534 Deaths. This represents a 2.5 percent and 3.4 percent increase respectively in both categories. 

A review of total COVID-19 tests and deaths across the nation reveals there are a total of 9,974,726 tests and 78,343 nationwide fatalities as of today. This is equal to 520 tests for every death. Generally speaking, we assume that those states where the ratio of tests to deaths is high, are doing a better job of deploying tests than those states where the number of tests to deaths is small. Ohio ranks 42 out of the U.S. states and territories with a ratio of 152 tests per COVID-19 fatality. 

May 13, 2020

As of May 13, 2020 Ohio has recorded 25,721 COVID-19 infections and 1,483 deaths. This represents 1.9 and 3.3 percent increases over yesterday. To date there are 198 cases and 9 deaths per 100,000 population. 

Analysis at the county level shows dramatic variation in both infection and death rates with Marion County reporting an infection rate 18 times higher than the state average and Mahoning County reporting a death rate six times higher than the state average.

May 12, 2020

There have been a total of 25,250 Ohio COVID-19 cases and 1,436 deaths as of May 12, 2020. This represents a 2 percent increase in cases and a 6 percent increase in deaths over the May 11th numbers.

A review of deaths by sex and age shows that more males (769) have died than females (667). As noted in previous blogs, elderly Ohioans are at significantly greater risk than younger Ohioans, with 51.5 percent of all deaths accounted for by persons older than 80. While this generalization is true for both males and female, males tend to die earlier than females, presumably because males are more likely to experience underlying conditions that make them vulnerable to fatal complications.   

May 11, 2020

As of May 11, 2020 there were 24,711 confirmed cases and 1,357 COVID-19 Ohio fatalities. This represents 2.9 and 1.2 percent increase over the previous day. 

Analysis of national data for COVID-19 fatalities between May 3 and May 10 shows that deaths have increased from 61,868 to 74270 for a total of 12,402 additional fatalities for the seven day period (20% increase). Ohio fatalities increased by  303 or 29% and Ohio ranked 11th in terms of percent change for the week.

May 8, 2020

As of May 8, there have been 23,016 identified COVID-19 cases and 1,306 deaths. These numbers represent a 3.8 and 2.7 percent increase over yesterday's numbers. While Ohio's rate of increase appears to be steady, the percent of deaths to overall cases continues to climb. As of May 8, 5.7 percent of infected Ohioans have died. The percent of deaths to cases varies dramatically around the state. The vast majority of COVID-19 fatalities are accounted for by elderly Ohioans. 

May 7, 2020

As of today, there are 22,131 known COVID-19 cases in Ohio and 1,271 related deaths. This represents a 2.6 percent increase in cases and a 3.8 percent increase in deaths over the previous day.

Analysis of cases, deaths and hospitalizations by age cohort reveals that cases and to some extent hospitalizations are likely to occur among all age cohorts. Deaths however are dramatically more likely to occur among the elderly. Only eight (8) of the 1,271 Ohio deaths were accounted for by Ohioans younger than the age of forty, while 1,171 or 92.1% of Ohio deaths were accounted for by persons sixty and older.

May 6, 2020

As of May 6, 2020 there are 21,576 COVID-19 cases in Ohio and 1,225 deaths. This represents 2.9 and 7.9 percent increases for each of the two categories. Deaths now account for 5.7 percent of all infections. A review of tests by state shows that Ohio continues to lag behind nearby Michigan and Pennsylvania in total COVID-19 testing.

May 5, 2020

As of May 5 there are 20,969 reported COVID-19 cases and 1,135 deaths. This represents a 2.4 percent increase in infections and a troubling 7.5 percent increase in deaths over Monday's totals. Recent national projections suggest that earlier models predicting fatalities may be a significant underestimation of deaths likely to occur. 

The first figure is a line graph tracking the increase in cases and deaths since April 1, 2020.

May 4, 2020

There were 20,474 COVID-19 cases noted in the ODH May 4 report and 1,056 cumulative deaths. This represents a 2.8% increase in cases and a 1.7% increase in deaths over Sunday, May 3rd. 

A review of reported cases between between Saturday and Monday shows an overall increase of 1,139 cases for a three day period for a 5.9% total increase. Franklin County experienced the largest increase, followed by Pickaway, Meigs and Jackson Counties with small numbers of reported cases recording the largest percentage increases.  

May 1, 2020

There were 716 more COVID-19 cases recorded for May 1st than the previous day, a 4.0% increase between the two days. Deaths increased by 27 for a 2.8% increase. While the increase in deaths is much less than earlier this week, it is worth noting that total COVID-19 fatalities for Ohio now exceed one thousand (1,002).

A quick review of COVID-19 related hospitalizations shows there have been 3,634 admissions to date. This is equal to 31.5 per 100,000 population. Mahoning (102.59), Lucas (95.29) Columbiana  (93.66), and Pickaway (87.97) had the highest rates per 100,000 residents. Several Ohio Counties, all in Appalachia have yet to record a COVID-19 related hospital admission.