Ohio’s seven-day COVID-19 case rate has now fallen to about the same level of seven-day cases as the state saw in mid-September, when the more deadly Delta variant was the virus’ prominent strain.
As of February 2, Ohio had an average seven-day case rate of 7,806, a drastic drop in that average over a period of just two weeks, according to publicly available data. On January 19, the seven-day average caseload was 27,462 cases.
The February 2 average weekly caseload is also quite close to mid-September’s seven-day caseload, which peaked at 7,268 on September 16.
The numbers appear to show that COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant have peaked in Ohio, though as usual, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) declined to comment when asked by The Ohio Star.
Other states have confirmed that Omicron has peaked, and Oregon even said that hospitalizations – not cases – due to Omicron will peak in a matter of days. Texas said the same.
Back in Ohio, the seven-day average death rate from the virus appears to have peaked too. On January 25, that number was 178 deaths per week. As of February 2, that number was 150 deaths per week.
Despite the massive surge in cases when the Omicron variant first came about, seven-day death averages have been nowhere near what they were during COVID-19’s 2020-2021 surge. During that time, seven-day average deaths peaked at 671 on February 15, 2021.
The drastic decline in deaths despite the drastic increase in cases suggests that the virus itself getting weaker.
Experts confirm that this is the normal course of events for viruses.
“Because the goal of a virus is to survive, replicate, and spread, it tends to evolve toward being more infectious and less deadly,” Jared Auclair, professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Northeastern University said in December. “There are exceptions and other factors, but in general, says Auclair, that’s what virologists expect to see occur with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
