As Ohioans continue to be tested for COVID-19 and cases – both symptomatic and asymptomatic – are found, the pattern emerging from the data seems to indicate that overall, the severity of the virus is diminishing.
OHIO “REPORTED” COVID data for Monday, November 2, 2020:
Cases: 2,909
Hospitalizations: 182
ICU: 23
Deaths: 37
*Reported numbers reach as far back as the beginning of the pandemic (which the state officially recognizes as 1/2020, despite contact tracing data that indicate the virus was here in 11/2019). Example: the deaths number is likely double-to-triple the actual number of deaths today.
Hospital utilization, per the Ohio key metric hospitalization page, continues to drop – with the exception being ventilator usage which has plateaued.
Inpatient Bed Utilization:
10/15: 71% (4% COVID)
10/28: 67% (5/6% COVID)
11/02: 61.46% (6.78% COVID)
ICU Bed Utilization:
10/15: 66% (5.8% COVID)
10/28: 63% (9% COVID)
11/02: 59.59% (10.31% COVID)
Ventilator Utilization:
10/15: 25.54% (2.5% COVID)
10/28: 25.35% (4.2% COVID)
11/02: 25.83% (4.94% COVID
However, despite the severity of illness in some, even the CDC Director Robert Redfield suggests there may be “play” in hospital numbers since the hospitals are at liberty to follow CDC guidelines (meaning that someone in ER/ICU or on a vent, who is not primarily a COVID patient, may be counted as such for reimbursement purposes if there can be some sort of test, or epidemiological link to the virus).
According to the Ohio COVID website, the surge in February and March produced April death numbers that far outpace the current death numbers. Yet this looks almost like a “third surge,” as the secondary “surge” in July saw a spike in cases and a greater number of deaths than now, but fewer than the first surge.
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Jack Windsor is Managing Editor at both The Ohio Star and The Michigan Star. Windsor is also an Investigative Reporter at WMFD-TV and The Virginia Star. Follow Jack on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
