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The number of new COVID-19 cases in Ohio is reaching levels not seen in more than six months.
The state had 3,393 new cases reported Wednesday, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
It's the most daily cases reported in the state since Feb. 6 with 3,549, and Wednesday was the first time Ohio exceeded 3,000 COVID-19 cases since Feb. 12.
This came a day after 2,326 new cases were reported, the most in four months.
For the first 11 days of August, the state has reported 21,510 COVID-19 cases. That's more cases than either the entire month of July with 17,953 cases or June with 9,390.
Ohio has seen its case numbers grow in recent weeks with health officials largely blaming that on the highly contagious delta variant spreading among those not vaccinated.
Ohio has exceeded 1,000 daily COVID-19 cases during the past nine days, including four that had more than 2,000 cases.
The 3,393 new COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday are up from the daily average of 1,430 for the past 21 days, according to the ODH. Ohio was averaging about 260 cases per day about five weeks ago.
Of those new cases Wednesday, 139 were in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
The state had a total of 1,149,318 COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday with 1,097,737 presumed recovered.
The ODH usually provides death information on Tuesdays and Fridays. There were 20,580 overall COVID-19 in Ohio as of Tuesday.
Mahoning County had 23,120 total COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday with 22,007 presumed recovered and 615 deaths.
Trumbull County had 17,157 total COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday with 16,209 presumed recovered and 493 deaths.
Columbiana County had 9,405 total COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday with 8,950 presumed recovered and 236 deaths.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to list Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana as substantial COVID-19 transmission counties because they have between 50 and 99.99 cases per 100,000 residents from Aug. 3 to Monday, according to the agency's measurements.
Gov. Mike DeWine announced Wednesday that, effective Monday, Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, the ODH's chief medical officer, will become its director.
Stephanie McCloud, ODH director for the past nine months, will return to her previous job as administrator of the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation.
The Ohio Senate needs to confirm both appointments.
VACCINATIONS
There were 5,873,834 people, 50.25 percent of the state's population, who at least had started getting inoculated as of 6 a.m. Wednesday, including 10,211 in the previous 24 hours, according to the ODH.
In Mahoning County, 48.67 percent of the population (111,307 people) had received at least one dose, while 46.46 percent of the population in Trumbull County (91,979 people) and 39.32 percent in Columbiana County (40,058 people) had as of 6 a.m. Wednesday, according to the ODH.
There were 5,446,704 people, 46.6 percent of the state's population, who finished the vaccinations as of 6 a.m. Wednesday, including 6,057 in the prior 24 hours.
In Mahoning County, 45.06 percent of the population (103,039 people) had completed the process, while 42.7 percent of the population in Trumbull (84,528 people) and 36.54 percent of the population in Columbiana (37,225 people) had as of 6 a.m. Wednesday.