MANSFIELD — Richland County is on the verge of improving to “orange” in the state’s COVID-19 Ohio Public Health Advisory system for the first time in six months.
According to the Ohio Department of Health website on Thursday, the county reported 134 new cases of coronavirus in the past two weeks, a 44-percent reduction in the past month, and the fewest number of new infections reported since Oct. 15.
The new cases represent 110.60 cases per 100,000 residents in the county, continuing a steady decline that peaked on Dec. 10 when the total was 1,134.92 new cases per 100,000 residents.
The state updates the OPHAS numbers each Thursday. The release of the information was delayed this week due to technical problems with the software that powers the state COVID-19 dashboard.
Richland County has triggered only two of the OPHAS’s seven indicators for several weeks. But under rules established by the state to match CDC guidelines for spread of the virus, a county remains “red,” or level three in the system, until the number of new cases dips below 100 per 100,000 residents.
The last time Richland County was “orange,” or level two, was Sept. 24, when it reported 40 new cases in a two-week period, or 33.02 new cases per 100,000 residents. At that time, the county met three of the seven indicators as a new wave of COVID-19 began to spread.
At one time during the virus wave, all 88 Ohio counties were “red” and several were “purple,” or level four, at one time or another, including Richland.
On Thursday, as conditions continue to improve, there were two “yellow,” or level one counties, one of which was Holmes. There were also 31 “orange” counties, including Knox, Morrow and Wayne.
Ashland and Crawford counties remained “red” this week.
Ashland, which met five of the seven indicators in the OPHAS, reported 86 new cases of coronavirus, or 160.80 per 100,000 residents. That’s down from 104 new cases reported last week.
Crawford County was at 173.52 new cases per 100,000 residents, down from 216.90 last week. It triggered two of the seven indicators.
Statewide, the state reported 146.9 new cases per 100,00 residents, up slightly from 143.8 a week ago. Gov. Mike DeWine has said he will lift all statewide health restrictions, including a mask mandate, when the number of new cases dips below 50 per 100,000.
The percentage of those testing positive has remained flat at around 3 percent for the past month.
Vaccinations continue to ramp up around the state. The ODH reported 3,028,527 have started the vaccine, or about 26 percent of the population. In Richland County, 26,526 residents have begun the two-dose vaccine process, about 22 percent of the population.
