ASHLAND — Supporters of in-person election on Nov. 3 and a no-mask mandate gathered downtown over the weekend, led by a group called Free Ohio Now.
Clearly, the group politically supports the re-election of President Trump. But their effort begs the question: How widespread is COVID-19 in Ashland County?
Based upon numbers provided by the Ohio Department of Health, Ashland County remains one of the state leaders in fighting the coronavirus.
There have been 162 positive tests in Ashland County since the pandemic reached Ohio about six months ago with 25 (15 percent) of those involving someone living in a long-term care facility.
About 87 percent of those new cases came before the start of August. Given 141 presumed recoveries, that meant there were about 18 active cases in Ashland County this past weekend in a population of 53,384 (.0003 percent).
There have been three COVID-19 related deaths in the county. Two of those three fatalities were people who contracted the virus while living in a long-term care facility.
The most recent death linked to coronavirus in Ashland County was more than a month ago on July 13. The mortality rate of those contracting the virus thus far in the county is 1.8 percent.
Gov. DeWine launched the Public Health Advisory System in early July, a four-tiered, color-coded system that ranks counties according to seven indicators.
Counties that meet 0-1 indicators are “yellow”, or level one. Counties that meet 2-3 indicators are “orange,” or level two. Counties that meet 4-5 indicators are “red,” or level three. Counties that meet 6-7 indicators are “purple,” or level four.
The state updates the rankings each Thursday. Thus far, there has not been a “purple” county in Ohio. Ashland County has never been anything but “yellow.”
The county has only “triggered” one indicator during the past four weeks — the percentage of cases found in non-congregate care settings. In a county where this percentage is above 50 percent, the indicator is considered met.
Since there have been no new cases discovered in long-term care facilities in Ashland County for the past month, this indicator has been 100 percent each of the last four weeks.
All of the other seven indicators have been below the state-mandated threshold for the past month.
New cases per capita — This indicator is met if there are more than than 50 cases per 100,000 residents over the last two weeks. In the past month, Ashland has seen 20.57, 43, 31.79 and 33.65, all below the threshold.
Increase in new cases — This indicator is met if there is an increasing trend of at least five consecutive days in overall cases by onset date over the last three weeks. Ashland County’s number has remained low at 0.57 on Aug. 18, 1.14 on Aug. 11, 1 on Aug. 4 and 0.57 on July 28.
Emergency room visits — A county is flagged on this indicator if it sees an increasing trend of at least five consecutive days in the number of visits to the emergency department with COVID-like illness or a diagnosis over the last three weeks. Ashland County, over the past month, has seen 0.43, 0.14, 0.43 and 0.14 average weekly ER visits linked to the virus.
Outpatient visits — This indicator is met if a county has an increasing trend of at least five consecutive days in the number of people going to a health care provider with COVID symptoms who then receive a COVID confirmed or suspected diagnosis over the last three weeks. Over the past month, Ashland has averaged 3.86 visits, 2.14 visits, 3 visits and 3.71 visits.
Hospital admissions — A county is flagged on this indicator if it sees an increasing trend of at least five consecutive days in the number of new hospitalizations due to COVID over the last three weeks. Ashland’s weekly hospitalization rate over the last four weeks has been 0.14, 0.0, 0.57 and 0.43.
ICU bed occupancy — This is the only indicator that looks beyond the county borders. In this, a county is flagged if percentage of the occupied ICU beds in each region goes above 80 percent for at least three days in the last week, AND more than 20 percent of ICU beds are being used for COVID-19 positive patients for at least three days in the last week. Over the past month, the region has been ICU bed percentage for COVID-19 patients at 6.45 percent, 8.1 percent, 7.86 percent and 7.8 percent.
