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Coronavirus 411

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Some Good News on the COVID-19 Front in Ohio

The Statehouse News Bureau | By Jo Ingles

Published February 5, 2021 at 1:08 PM EST

A nurse prepares Moderna vaccination at Columbus shot clinic — A nurse prepares a Moderna COVID-19 vaccination at a Columbus clinic.

Ohio has marked an important milestone. For the first time during this pandemic, the Ohio Department of Health reports the number of people who have received at least one dose of COVID vaccine outnumbers the total number of cases reported. And that’s not the only positive indicator.

Ohio Hospital Association President and CEO Michael Abrams says hospitalizations are down.

The number of Ohioans in the hospital with COVID-19 continues to decrease. Gov. Mike DeWine says if it remains under 2,500 for seven consecutive days the state will remove the 11 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew that is currently in place.

“We are detecting improvement. 2,380 people from Ohio are in the hospital today. For comparison, in mid-December, more than 5,300 were hospitalized," Abrams says.

The state’s health department says as of Wednesday afternoon, 908,096 Ohioans had received at least one dose of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. And that’s 2,000 more than the 906,727 people who have had COVID since the beginning of the pandemic.