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More than 1 in every 100 Ohioans has been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past two weeks.
The number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 Ohioans broke its record high by a lot, hitting 1,009.6, and it looks like the trend will continue as people get together for Christmas.
Also, the state greatly exceeded its daily record high, which was set Tuesday and then Wednesday, with 15,989 new COVID-19 cases reported Thursday. The increase from Wednesday to Thursday was 24.3 percent.
These numbers are likely an undercount as they don't include those who tested positive for COVID-19 with at-home kits and then don't see a doctor or go to a hospital. Those cases aren't included in the official state tally.
Already 206,360 COVID-19 cases have been reported through the first 22 days of December. That is more than any full month since the start of the pandemic except for December 2020.
But with the recent surge in cases, this month is likely to surpass the 279,317 reported cases in December 2020 and have the most for any month since the pandemic started in March 2020.
Meanwhile, the Ohio Department of Health stated it doesn't know how many people in the state have been vaccinated.
It reported Thursday it won't have updated vaccination data until at least Monday because of what it calls a "multiday outage with the state's immunization database vendor." It's just the latest problem with the ODH's reporting methods.
CASES PER 100,000
The number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 resident increased for the seventh straight week.
The 1,009.6 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents for the period between Dec. 9 and Wednesday is up from 783.2 cases per 100,000 last week, according to ODH data reported Thursday.
Last week was a record. This week shattered it.
It's an increase of 28.9 percent since last week and more than double what it was just five weeks ago.
The state was at 718.5 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 two weeks ago.
It was at 601.1 three weeks ago, 538.2 cases per 100,000 four weeks ago and 496.3 cases per 100,000 five weeks ago.
The state's cases are more than 10 times what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider to be high-transmission areas for COVID-19.
The CDC number for high transmission is 100 cases per 100,000.
The highest COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents among Ohio's 88 counties was Cuyahoga with 2,509.9 and the lowest was Holmes with 309.4 cases per 100,000 residents.
VALLEY RATES
For the second straight week, Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties had a lower rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents than the state. Mahoning and Trumbull had an increase, while Columbiana saw a decline in cases from last week.
Mahoning is 19th in the state among the 88 counties this week with 865 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.
Mahoning was 41st last week with 771.4 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.
It was 44th in the state two weeks ago with 774.9 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, 20th in the state three weeks ago with 778.8 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, 17th four weeks ago with 726.8 cases per 100,000 residents and 25th five weeks ago with 686.1 COVID-19 cases per 100,000.
Trumbull is 28th this week with 794 cases per 100,000 residents.
Trumbull was 42nd last week with 765.8 cases per 100,000 residents.
It was 19th two weeks ago with 896.1 cases per 100,000 residents, 14th three weeks ago with 816.8 cases per 100,000 residents, 18th four weeks ago with 718.8 cases per 100,000 residents and 39th five weeks ago with 577.9 cases per 100,000.
Columbiana is 45th this week with 727.3 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.
Columbiana was 43rd last week with 755.3 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.
It was 32nd two weeks ago with 840.2 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, 13th three weeks ago with 821.5 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, ninth four weeks with 758.2 cases per 100,000 residents and 14th five weeks ago with 753.8 COVID-19 cases per 100,000.
The ODH measures cases per 100,000 residents among counties to get a fair comparison because total cases would result in more-populous counties ranking higher.