December COVID-19 deaths on pace to eclipse November tally
Ohio is on an early pace to double the number of COVID-19 deaths it had for the entire month of November, according to figures released by the Ohio Department of Health.
The agency on Saturday reported 64 more deaths, bringing the total deaths to 517 Ohioans for the first five days of December. The total deaths for all of November — the second-deadliest month of the pandemic — was 817. May was the state's deadliest month with 1,180 reported deaths.
The number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths have all been surging, prompting Gov. Mike DeWine to consider more restrictions like his 10 p.m. curfew. Saturday's total number of new COVID-19 cases was 10,469, which is the second-highest number on record.
"We think some of the things we’ve done – curfew, additional mask-wearing, inspection of retail – we think these things have helped," DeWine said during his press conference Friday. "But clearly they have not helped enough, and we’re going to have to do more.”
Many of DeWine's GOP counterparts in the House and Senate appear to disagree. They plan to try to override a bill DeWine vetoed last week that would ban the Ohio Department of Health from quarantining people unless they were diagnosed with a disease or in direct contact with someone who was.
One in four patients in Ohio hospitals has COVID-19 compared with one in 22 patients 60 days ago, according to the Ohio Hospital Association.
Still, overall hospitalizations for the virus were down slightly from 5,092 Friday to 4,978 on Saturday. But reporting from testing has lagged and, as DeWine pointed out to reporters, the state doesn't want to find its hospitals at capacity any time soon.
Ohio's positive rate on tests on the latest reported day (Thursday) was 17.1% the highest since April 18 when testing was more limited and largely restricted to suspected cases. The seven-day average positivity rate rose to 15.8%.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has approved the request of Ohio's congressional delegation, DeWine and other governors to extend federal funding to pay 75% of the costs of the virus response by the Ohio National Guard.
The funding, scheduled to expire on Dec. 31, now will continue through March 31. About 500 Ohio Guard members have participated in virus testing, food distribution at pantries and other missions throughout the pandemic.