COLUMBUS, Ohio — On Friday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine held a press briefing to discuss the state's response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic -- his first in more than a month.
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And while doing so, he shared some revealing numbers regarding the state's COVID-19-related hospitalizations since the start of the new year.
According to DeWine, Ohio has had 18,662 COVID-19-related hospitalizations since Jan. 1, 2021. Of those 18,662 hospitalizations, 18,367 of the patients had not been vaccinated for COVID-19, meaning that 98.4 percent of Ohio's COVID-19 hospitalizations in 2021 have been unvaccinated patients, while 1.6 percent of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 have been vaccinated.
DeWine's data comes amid a recent resurgence in COVID-19 cases, with the state of Ohio reporting 1,969 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, one day after reporting 2,167 new cases on Wednesday -- the state's highest one day increase since October. With the more contagious Delta Variant having become the dominant strain of COVID-19 in Ohio, DeWine stressed the need for those who remain vaccinated to get the vaccine.
"No fact better illustrates how powerful the vaccines are than by looking at the people who have been in our hospitals for COVID since Jan. 1 of this year, when the vaccine first really started to have a big impact," DeWine said before revealing the data, which he said will be updated each Thursday and available for the public to view.
DeWine also noted that as of Friday, 58 percent of Ohioans age 12 or older -- the age threshold for being eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine -- have been vaccinated, while 42 percent have not been vaccinated.
"We now live in a state with two groups of people: those who are vaccinated and those who are not vaccinated," DeWine said.
You can watch Gov. DeWine's full press briefing in the video player below: