MOUNT VERNON – After three weeks at the lowest level of Ohio’s Public Health Advisory System, which tracks the spread of COVID-19 statewide, Knox County moved up to ‘Level 2’ on Thursday.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that 23 of the state’s 88 counties are now considered ‘Level 3,’ 38 counties are now ‘Level 2,’ and 27 counties are ‘Level 1.’
Two of Knox County’s neighbors, Coshocton and Holmes counties, remained orange this week, while Delaware, Licking and Richland remained red. Morrow County moved down to yellow after beginning the month orange, and Ashland remained yellow, as it has from the beginning.
The Ohio Department of Health introduced the Public Health Advisory System on July 2 as a way to track the spread of COVID-19 on a county-by-county basis. Each Thursday since, DeWine has announced updated versions of the map.
Counties deemed ‘Level 1’ (yellow) are said to have “active exposure and spread,” according to the ODH website. Counties that are ‘Level 2’ (orange) are experiencing “increased exposure and spread.” Residents at this level are encouraged to “exercise a high degree of caution.”
Counties that are ‘Level 3’ (red) are said to have “very high exposure and spread,” and residents are cautioned to “limit activities as much as possible.” No counties have reached ‘Level 4’ (purple) yet, which signals “severe exposure and spread” and recommends residents “only leave home for supplies and services.”
The ODH considers a variety of factors in calculating where each county stands, including:
New cases per capita – Flagged if greater than 50 cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks.
Sustained increase in new cases – Flagged if increasing trend of at least 5 days in overall cases by onset date.
Proportion of cases not congregate cases – Flagged if proportion of cases that are not in a congregate setting goes over 50%.
Sustained increase in emergency room visits – Flagged if increasing trend of at least 5 days in the number of visits to the emergency department with COVID-like illness or a diagnosis.
Sustained increase in outpatient visits – Flagged if increasing trend of at least 5 days in the number of people going to a health care provider with COVID symptoms who then receive a COVID confirmed or suspected diagnosis.
Sustained increase in new COVID hospital admissions – Flagged if increasing trend of at least 5 days in the number of new hospitalizations due to COVID.
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.
‘Level 2’ is reached when a county triggers 2-3 of the above indicators. It’s unclear which indicators Knox County hit this week, and Knox Public Health did not return requests for comment Thursday afternoon.
Knox County has seen a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, and more than a third of the county’s caseload for the entire pandemic has come in the last seven days. The county saw its second COVID-19 death on Saturday, as a 74-year-old from Howard passed away from virus-related complications.
Knox County had 98 confirmed cases as of Wednesday, with 50 recovered and 46 still active. The ODH reported Thursday that Knox County’s caseload had reached 103, including 13 hospitalizations since the pandemic began.
Knox County Health Commissioner Julie Miller indicated at Wednesday night’s health board meeting that Knox County might move up to ‘Level 2’ this week.
“I think we already meet three of the set of criteria [from the state], which would put us at a ‘Level Orange,’” she said, “but they’re the ones that designate that.”
In order to move up to ‘Level 3,’ Knox County would need to trigger 4-5 of the state’s indicators. In order to move back down to ‘Level 1,’ the county would need to only trigger one or less.
Of Knox County’s 98 confirmed cases, 38 have been reported in the last week. Knox Public Health is attributing 33 of those to “community spread,” as the source of the infection is unknown.
Thirteen cases came from an outbreak at Country Court Skilled Nursing Center in Mount Vernon. While Miller said Wednesday she couldn’t speak specifically about this week’s data, she noted that over the past month, typical summertime gatherings have been the source of most infections locally.
She’s seen positive cases come from events like weddings, funerals, religious services, athletic contests, and gatherings at private residences.
“We are seeing it associated with private residence gatherings, because that’s where you can have more people than 10,” Miller explained during Wednesday night’s health board meeting. “And good or bad, whether it’s a big reunion or just a friendly get-together, we are seeing positive, confirmed cases come out of those types of things.
“We’re seeing it out of what I’ll call spiritual or religious-based services, be it a church service and/or weddings, funerals. We are also recently, as of today… [seeing confirmed cases from] youth sports. The state is already working on what they’re going to do with youth athletics because we’re seeing more kids being exposed during youth ball.”
Miller plans to address the community on Facebook Live at 5 p.m. Thursday, regarding the recent rise in cases.
