‘We will hit that threshold,’ Ohio’s Chief Medical Officer says

Two straight weeks of record-breaking COVID-19 vaccine doses, lifting of some restrictions and the continued lowering of hospitalizations locally point toward the coronavirus pandemic ending in Ohio soon.

Gov. Mike DeWine echoed the optimism in his statewide address Thursday night, giving Ohioans an endgame to defeat the virus and hope for a brighter future for the remainder of 2021.

“Ohio we must run through the tape at the end of this race,” DeWine said. “We need to finish the job, and we need to finish strong.”

>> Gov. DeWine announces new benchmark to lift COVID-19 health orders

While painting an optimistic future, DeWine told Ohioans to keep up with wearing masks and following other COVID-19 health protocols, at least for now.

DeWine said once Ohio reaches 50 cases per 100,000 people for two weeks all health orders in the state will be lifted. That data will be reported each Thursday, the Ohio Department of Health announced.

Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, the state’s chief medical officer, said he thinks it will take longer than a few weeks to reach the 50 cases per 100,000 people, but said the impact of variants will be key of the rate of case declines in the state.

“Just how much longer I don’t know,” said Vanderhoff. “We will hit that threshold.”

Dr. Roberto Colon with Miami Valley Hospital said “It’ll probably be something that takes several months.”

Vanderhoff said even once we reach that 50 cases per 100,000 people threshold it will be important to continue getting vaccinations and also continue recommended health practices. However, the mandatory health orders would be lifted, leaving it to Ohioans to use their best judgment, he added.

For perspective, on Dec. 3 Ohio was at 731 cases per 100,000 people, on Feb. 3 the state dropped to 445 cases per 100,000 people and Wednesday the state had dropped to 179 cases per 100,000.

Colon said gatherings like upcoming spring breaks and St. Patrick’s Day cause rapid spread and shutdowns.

Vanderhoff cautioned Ohioans to take down their guard even if their county has reached the threshold before the entire state.

“There’s no part of Ohio that is truly isolated,” Vanderhoff said. “Nobody lives in a bubble.”

Vanderhoff said it is not safe for counties to reduce health practices just because they’ve reached the threshold, because a county next to them may not be there yet themselves.

While it will take the entire state reaching 50 cases per 100,000 people to end the health orders, the individual county levels provide an idea of how close the state is to returning to normal.

County-by-county cases per 100,000 people:

• Auglaize: 87 cases per 100,000 people
• Butler: 197 cases per 100,000 people
• Champaign: 185 cases per 100,000 people
• Clark: 159 cases per 100,000 people
• Clinton: 181 cases per 100,000 people
• Darke: 104 cases per 100,000 people
• Greene: 139 cases per 100,000 people
• Logan: 175 cases per 100,000 people
• Mercer: 75 cases per 100,000 people
• Miami: 150 cases per 100,000 people
• Montgomery: 128 cases per 100,000 people
• Preble: 117 cases per 100,000 people
• Shelby: 84 cases per 100,000 people
• Warren: 206 cases per 100,000 people

Cox Media Group