MANSFIELD -- Crawford County remained "red," while Richland County improved to "red," or level three, on Thursday in the state's color-coded COVID-19 monitoring system.
The Christmas Eve announcement from the Ohio Department of Health came after the county spent three straight weeks at "purple," or level four, the most severe indicator of coronavirus spread in a county.
The change in designation was announced through the state's COVID-19 Public Health Advisory System website, updated each Thursday at 2 p.m. Richland County remains "high incidence" by CDC standards due to the number of cases being reported.
According to ODH, Richland County met three of the state's seven indicators for virus spread this week. It met six last week and all seven on Dec. 10.
Richland County was the only county designated "purple" last week. There were none this week, according to the ODH website. There were four "orange," or level three counties, and the remaining 85 were "red," including Ashland, Crawford and Knox counties.
Crawford County met three of the seven indicators this week.
The county's indicators are listed in the graphic below:
