MANSFIELD — Richland County was the state’s only “purple,” or level four, county on Thursday in the Ohio’s color-coded advisory system used to monitor COVID-19 spread.
The “purple” designation is the most severe indicator of coronavirus spread in a county and the announcement today mark’s Richland County’s third straight week at level four.
Four other counties dropped back to “red,” or level three, this week in the state’s Public Health Advisory System. The announcement came during Gov. Mike DeWine’s bi-weekly press conference.
Richland County met five of the seven indicators this week, but remains at the “purple level due to two-week trends. It met all seven indicators two weeks ago and six last week.
Richland County was eighth worst among the state’s 88 counties in terms of virus occurrence for past two weeks.
The five indicators met this week in Richland County were:
— New cases per capita — Flagged if greater than 50 cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks. Richland County was at 1,096.13 on Nov. 17, down from 1,134.92 on Nov. 10.
— Sustained increase in new cases — Flagged if increasing trend of at least five consecutive days in overall cases by onset date over the last three weeks. Richland County had five such days from Nov. 28 to Dec. 3, rising from 110.86 on the first day of the period to 132.71 on the fifth. It had declined to 74.86 on Dec. 15.
— Proportion of cases not in a congregate setting — Flagged if proportion of cases that are not in a congregate setting goes over 50 percent in at least one of the last three weeks. Richland County was at 36.51 percent this week, but was at 86 percent and 87 percent the two weeks prior.
— Sustained increase in hospital admissions — Flagged if increasing trend of at least five consecutive days in the number of new hospitalizations due to COVID over the last three weeks. Richland County met this from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4, rising from 2.57 admissions on a seven-day average to 5.00. It has since declined to 3.86 on Dec. 15.
— Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed occupancy — Flagged if the percentage of occupied ICU beds in each region goes above 80 percent for at least three days in the last week AND more than 20 percent of ICU beds are being used for COVID-19 positive patients for at least three days in the last week. The region in which Richland County operates had seven such days between Dec. 9 and Dec. 15.
Richland County didn’t trigger two of the seven indicators — sustained increases in emergency room visits and sustained increases of outpatient visits.
Reed Richmond, public health educator at Richland Public Health, said the “purple” level indicates severe exposure and spread of the pandemic and the recommendation to only leave home for supplies and services. It does not curtail businesses or the need to report to work, he said.
While Richland County is the only level four in the state, all 88 Ohio Counties remain listed for high incidence of COVID-19 spread. All counties had active cases of coronavirus above the 100 cases per 100,000 population guideline established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to the Ohio Dept. of Health website, as of Thursday afternoon, Richland County has recorded 6,165 positive COVID-19 tests with 372 total hospitalizations, 55 deaths and 3,861 presumed recoveries.
