COLUMBUS – The Ohio Department of Health will, on Friday and for the next several days, report an artificially high COVID-19 case count caused by a processing lag due to the unprecedented number of cases reported.
A processing enhancement was implemented late Thursday to expand the state’s capacity to process a higher volume of lab results, enabling the backlog to begin to clear and to better keep up with daily processing of positive test results.
Testing data from laboratories across the state is automatically submitted to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) through an electronic lab reporting system that feeds into the Ohio Disease Reporting System (ODRS).
As COVID-19 cases have reached all-time highs, driven largely by the highly contagious Omicron variant, the system reached its processing capacity, resulting in a multiple-day backlog of tens of thousands of results. In addition, there are some positive test results that involve a further manual review by state epidemiologists.
As these results are processed, positive cases will be attributed to their proper illness onset date on the COVID-19 overview dashboard, which better depicts the spread of COVID-19 in Ohio. The most helpful indicators of COVID-19 spread in Ohio continue to be COVID-19 hospitalizations, test positivity, case rates per 100,000 residents, and cases by illness onset date.
Throughout the pandemic, the Ohio Department has discovered the impacts of high user demand on antiquated technical systems. ODH continues to take steps to enhance real-time data analysis.
COVID-19 vaccines continue to be the best tool against the virus. Ensuring vaccines are up-to-date is critical to having the best protection possible. COVID-19 vaccines are widely available throughout the state.
Many providers offer walk-in appointments, or Ohioans can schedule a vaccination appointment at gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov. Ohioans who want to learn more about the safety, efficacy, and side effects of COVID-19 vaccines should talk to their doctor, nurse, or pharmacist, or visit coronavirus.ohio.gov/vaccine.
From Richland Public Health
Richland County has had 19,905 confirmed positive pandemic cases with 7,238 probable cases for a total of 22,408 cumulative cases since the first case on March 27,143. There have been 874 cases in the last seven days, and 2,546 cases over the last two weeks.
There have been 1,206 hospitalizations. There have been 420 confirmed pandemic deaths by the CDC*. 22,782 people on the cumulative list have recovered.
* Death data within 120 days may be preliminary and subject to increase due to CDC verification.
OHIO has had 2,307,691 total cases since the first cases on March 9, 2020. Ohio has 30,888 pandemic deaths. There are or have been 101,659 individuals hospitalized in Ohio with 12,227 total ICU admissions. Ohio’s presumed-recovered count is 1,902,104.
The U.S. has 64,533959 cumulative pandemic cases with 848,051 cumulative deaths. In the Last 28 days: 13,527,011 cases and 40,878 deaths.
Global: 321,752,884 cumulative pandemic cases with 5,526,169 cumulative deaths. In the Last 28 Days: 47,071,984 cases and 181,921 deaths. Total global COVID-19 vaccine doses administered: 9,578,600,401.
About the Ohio Department of Health
The Ohio Department of Health’s mission is advancing the health and well-being of all Ohioans by transforming the state’s public health system through unique partnerships and funding streams; addressing the community conditions and inequities that lead to disparities in health outcomes; and implementing data-driven, evidence-based solutions.
For information about COVID-19 call 1-833-4-ASK-ODH.
