Soaring COVID Cases Pushing Some Ohio Hospital ICUs Toward Capacity

The state of Ohio reported 4,274 new confirmed COVID cases in the last 24 hours, with a total of 5,395 confirmed and probable cases.

These are the highest numbers seen since the end of the winter surge of cases and deaths.

The Ohio Hospital Association's COVID-19 dashboardreported there are 2,100 patients with COVID on Thursday, a more than 600% increase from two months ago. On that date, June 27, there were 281 COVID-positive patients in Ohio hospitals, with 1 in 63 patients having COVID. Now, it's 1 in 10.

There’s been a more than 700% increase in patients with COVID in intensive care in the last two months. Then, 1 in 41 ICU patients had COVID. Three weeks ago, it was 1 in 13. Now, it's 1 in 6.

A record of 5,308 COVID hospitalizations was reported just before Christmas, with a record 863 patients on ventilators.

And Ohio Hospital Association spokesman John Palmer said there’s real concern that a spike like the one last winter is coming.

“It's definitely resembling it. There's just a lot of different variables this time around, with obviously the Delta variant we didn't have before and then with the strain that's put on health care givers as well," Palmer said.

Some hospitals are close to capacity in their ICUs, and some are also postponing elective procedures.

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