Health

COVID-19 cases in Cuyahoga County are up; Masks now required in county buildings

Ideastream Public Media | By Lisa Ryan

Published May 31, 2022 at 4:09 PM EDT

COVID-19 cases are four times as high as they were this time last year, but hospitalizations and deaths are down. This chart shows data from the week before Memorial Day.

Starting June 1, masks will be required in Cuyahoga County buildings, including the county courts regardless of vaccination status, according to county media releases.

Masks are also now recommended in public, indoor spaces in Cuyahoga County, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, summertime has usually meant fewer COVID-19 cases, but this year is different.

As Northeast Ohio was preparing for the Memorial Day holiday, community spread was worsening, Cuyahoga County health department data show.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control raised the COVID-19 Community Level to high in three Northeast Ohio counties: Ashtabula, Cuyahoga and Lorain.

Although community levels are on the rise, hospitalizations and deaths remain low.

But despite the rise in cases, there is good news, said University Hospitals’ Dr. Keith Armitage: So far hospital admissions from COVID remain low.

“Even though there’s a lot of COVID spreading in the community in Northeast Ohio right now, we’re just not seeing hospitalizations, probably less than we would see during a peak flu season," he said.

COVID-19 vaccinations and antiviral medications are keeping more people from getting severely ill, he said.

“We’re not seeing people coming in very sick — going on ventilators," he explained.

County health department data backs this up. Last week, there were more than a thousand new COVID-19 cases in Cuyahoga County, but only 14 hospitalizations, and, thankfully, no deaths, the data show.

During same week last year, there were only 300 cases, but more hospitalizations with 20 people in the hospital and one death. In the same week in 2020, there were 406 cases, 78 hospitalizations, 18 Intensive Care Unit admissions and 34 deaths.

In 2020, there were fewer cases but far more hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths.

Northeast Ohio hospitals are still busy though, said Armitage, possibly due to fewer staff and more demand for services people delayed during the pandemic.

“I think the big hospitals in Northeast Ohio are pretty busy the last few weeks, but it’s not due to COVID. Maybe some of it’s catchup or delayed care that was postponed during COVID," he said.