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WKSU, our public radio partners in Ohio and across the region and NPR are all continuing to work on stories on the latest developments with the coronavirus and COVID-19 so that we can keep you informed.

Current Surge in Cases Tracked in Two New COVID Maps

Ideastream Public Media | By Jay Shah

Published December 24, 2020 at 7:03 PM EST

The state health department says Ohioans can use the incidence map to understand the severity of COVID-19 transmission by county. The second map shows the percent of all ICU patients who are COVID positive, which it says has increased from 12% in August to 31% currently. This is having what it calls a "severe and unsustainable" impact on the state's healthcare system.

Governor DeWine announced two new maps yesterday for tracking the severity of the spread of COVID-19 across Ohio. Both maps were created by the Ohio Department of Health.

New Map from Ohio Department of Health — The first map from Ohio Department of Health showing case numbers per 100,000 residents over two weeks

The first map measures cases per capita over time, or cases per 100,000 residents over two weeks. This is a time-lapse map based on the list of counties showing increased case numbers and tracks the levels of spread from week to week.

The second map is a Regional COVID-19 ICU Utilization map. This will track the percent of the overall ICU patient population to indicate what percent are COVID patients.

New Map by Ohio Department of Health — The second new map by Ohio Department of Health will track the percent of COVID ICU patients out of all ICU patients per region and also track hospital preparedness averages per region.

The map will also show each region’s hospital preparedness.

The governor stated that in comparison to August, Ohio is now at 31 percent or 1 in 3 patients in the ICU being COVID patients.

No numbers will be reported by the Ohio Department of Health on December 25 in observance of the holiday. Daily number reporting will resume on December 26 with total numbers from December 25 and December 26.

Both maps will be updated weekly, every Thursday and can be found at coronavirus.ohio.gov.