By 1812Blockhouse
The State of Ohio’s Public Health Advisory System monitoring local levels of COVID-19 moved Richland County on a “Red,” or “3” Level when statistics were released on Thursday afternoon.
The county was also put on the “Watch List,” meaning that if Richland County has six or more indicators triggered next week, it will move to the “Purple” Level, the highest in the advisory system.
Richland was one of 11 counties on the Red Level, including next-door Ashland County.
The indicators which were triggered this week include:
- Increase in new cases (4.14 cases on September 19 to 9.14 cases on September 25)
- Seven day emergency room visits (3.29 on September 24 to 7.71 on September 29)
- New cases per capita (78.4 cases per 100,000 residents)
- Cases that did not involve congregate location transmission (47.37% from September 23 to 29)
- Outpatient visits (11.43 on September 9 to 23.43 on September 14)
- Hospital admissions (0.14 on September 19 to 4.0 on September 28)
A Red/Level 3 signifies a very high exposure and spread, according to the System, and activities should be limited as much as possible.
School districts, churches, and other organizations also use the Public Health Advisory System in terms of handling in-person versus remote and outdoor activities.
At least one of those indicators is now trending downward, suggesting that at least at this point, a Purple Level designation is unlikely.
After the announcement, this tweet was shared by Richland Public Health:
Richland County has gone back to Risk Level 3/Red in the Ohio Public Health Advisory System for COVID-19. The Red designation comes with a *warning* for being very close to Level 4 (Purple). See story here: https://t.co/fr88NE1Fdc pic.twitter.com/hmgCLWKtYz
— Richland Public Health (@RichlandHealth1) October 1, 2020
