The number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 Ohioans declined for the second week in a row.

Cases decreased by 7.8 percent compared to last week. There was a 7.5 percent decrease last week compared to the previous week.

That came after seven consecutive increases in COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the state.

The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations also saw a decrease.

There were 1,204 COVID-19 hospitalizations in Ohio as of Thursday, according to the Ohio Hospital Association. There were 1,313 COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state a week earlier.

But since July 14, the daily total number of people in Ohio hospitals with COVID-19 has exceeded 1,000 after going more than four months below that.

There were 376.9 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents for the two-week period between Aug. 4 and Wednesday compared to 408.6 cases per 100,000 last week, according to data provided Thursday by the Ohio Department of Health.

Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties saw decreases for the second straight week and all were below the state average.

Also, 90 COVID-19 deaths were reported in the state in the last week.

Before last week, there were seven consecutive weeks of increases in cases per 100,000 Ohioans, which came after four straight weeks of decreases. Before that, there were eight weeks of increases and prior to that, 10 consecutive weeks of declines.

Ohio had 441.6 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents two weeks ago, 438.5 cases per 100,000 residents three weeks ago, 391.4 cases per 100,000 residents four weeks ago and 334.1 cases per 100,000 residents five weeks ago.

It hit a record-high 2,154.8 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents on Jan. 20.

Of the state’s 88 counties, 86 had more than 200 cases per 100,000 residents and 78 exceeded 300 cases per 100,000.

The ODH switched March 13 from daily to weekly reports. The reports are provided on Thursdays.

A total of 24,067 COVID-19 cases were reported in the last week as of Thursday. There were 26,016 COVID-19 cases reported last week, 27,785 COVID-19 cases two weeks ago, 29,876 COVID-19 cases three weeks ago, 26,610 COVID-19 cases four weeks ago and 24,465 COVID-19 cases five weeks ago.

VALLEY RATES

Mahoning is 55th in the state this week among 88 counties with 371.7 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.

It was 49th last week with 426.4 COVID-10 cases per 100,000 residents.

Trumbull is 59th in the state this week with 358.6 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents. It was 60th in the state last week with 408.1 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.

Columbiana is 70th in the state this week with 330.8 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents. It was 65th last week with 385.7 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents.

The ODH measures cases per 100,000 residents among counties to get a fair comparison because total cases likely would result in more-populous counties ranking higher.