Ohio surpasses 100,000 total COVID-19 cases

Cases of COVID-19 have topped 100,000 in Ohio, but daily numbers reported Sunday for new cases, hospitalizations and deaths dropped significantly.

The Ohio Department of Health on Sunday reported 879 new cases (the 21-day average was 1,234), 49 hospitalizations (21-day average was 96) and only one death (21-day average was 24).

Ohio has now had a total 100,848 coronavirus cases and a total 3,669 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

It took Ohio 112 days or more than 3 1/2 months to reach 50,000 residents with positive coronavirus tests. The second 50,000 to test positive has been surpassed in less than 1 1/2 months.

Those numbers have jumped significantly, especially in the last month with new cases totaling 1,000 or more a day. The highest single-day total was 1,733 cases on July 30, the state health department reports.

“That’s a pretty significant escalation,” Dr. Bill Miller, senior associate dean of research and professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University’s College of Public Health.Miller, told The Dispatch recently.

“In some ways, that’s to be expected with an infectious disease. But in my mind, that’s still pretty meaningful. ... We have a lot more infection circulating in the community than we did a few months ago.”