COLUMBUS, Ohio – Cuyahoga County and six others across the state have been placed on Alert Level 3 under Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s new coronavirus alert system, with the governor asking residents to “consider necessary travel only.”
The other counties placed on the same alert Thursday were Butler, Franklin, Hamilton, Huron, Montgomery and Trumbull.
In these counties, the governor said, “Ohioans should limit activities as much as possible. Wear a mask when you go out, for sure. Consider online options, perhaps even for church services. Many cases of community spread are present in these counties.”
However, the governor said the new system did not come with any mandates; it’s just a way of informing the public and local authorities.
Alert Level 3, or red, is the second highest on the new warning system announced Thursday. DeWine said Franklin County is being monitored to potentially be raised to the highest level of concern, Level 4, noted as purple alert.
Though DeWine said community spread of coronavirus exists in all 88 counties, 53 counties were assigned the lowest level – Alert Level 1, or yellow.
Another 28 counties were assigned Alert Level 2, or orange.
He detailed a seven-point monitoring system that may be increased to 10 measures.
Meeting none or one of the current criteria places a county in Level 1; two or three in Level 2; four or five in Level 3; and six or seven in Level 4.
Here are the criteria:
* 1. New cases per capita – Alert triggered when there are 50 per cases per 100,000 residents over a two-week period.
* 2. Increase in new cases – Alert triggered if number of new cases increases for five days.
* 3. Non-congregate living cases – Alert triggered when at least 50% of the new cases in the past three weeks are from places other than long-term care facilities or prisons.
* 4. Early indicator: emergency rooms – Alert triggered when there is a sustained increase over five days of visits from people with symptoms or confirmed cases.
* 5. Early indicator: doctor visits – Alert triggered when there is a sustained increase in out-patient visits, including tele-visits, over five days from people with symptoms or confirmed cases.
* 6. Hospitalizations – Alert triggered when there is a sustained increase of new COVID-19 patients over five days, based on the county or residence, not the location of the hospital.
* 7. Intensive Care Unit occupancy – Alert triggered when ICU occupancy in a region exceeds 80% of total ICU beds, counting both coronavirus patients and those in ICU for other reasons.
Cuyahoga County has met the first four criteria, DeWine said, noting that the spread is growing outside the congregate settings.
Onset of new cases the last two weeks is at its highest level to date, emergency room visits have doubled, and out-patient doctor visits with symptoms have tripled, DeWine said of Cuyahoga County.
“Our best defense moving forward is to be on the offense,” DeWine said in explaining why the alert system was developed. “How we live with this virus. We have to be smart about it. We need to be careful about it.”
Just to the west of Cleveland, Huron County is at Alert Level 3, largely because of a spike in cases on farms. In Trumbull, north of Youngstown, DeWine said emergency room visits have tripled. Huron, Trumbull and Butler counties each met four of the criteria.
Montgomery, Hamilton and Franklin counties each met five criteria. DeWine said Hamilton’s cases are up fourfold, and the growth in Franklin has been “explosive,” with 1,500 new cases in the last two weeks.
DeWine said the indicators that may be added later involve contact tracing, tests per capita, and positive tests rates.
Read related coverage
Cuyahoga, Ohio’s other big urban counties drive spike in coronavirus cases, per capita data shows
Dayton to become first major Ohio city to require masks in public
Ohio health officials trace coronavirus outbreak to Put-in-Bay
Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.
