COLUMBUS, Ohio — For the first time, all of the Top 10 Counties Ranked By Highest Occurrence of COVID-19 diagnoses in Ohio are rural.
“The top 10 are basically rural counties and we continue to see this, we continue to see spread out into rural areas and it’s very concerning,” said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine at his Tuesday press briefing.
“The good news, positivity is overall is coming down, and we’re also seeing urban areas generally lowering the number of cases.”
For the third week in a row, tiny Mercer County (pop 41,172) was the top county, with 245.3 cases per 100,000. Other counties with very high incidences included Darke, Lawrence, Meigs and Preble. No county in the top ten list has more than 60,000 residents. The numbers are as of Monday, Aug. 17.
In one of those rural counties, Brown County in Southern Ohio, an employees has tested positive for coronavirus at the Ohio Veterans Home. No other employees or residents have tested positive, but all staff are being tested, as are any residents who may have been exposed, said the Governor.
‘The Ohio Department of Veterans Services had kept the virus out of this facility since the start of the pandemic, but sadly, we’re seeing more community spread in our rural counties,” said the Governor.
In the Columbus area, 3rd District State Senator Tina Maharath and several members of her family have tested positive for coronavirus, added Governor DeWine. Two of them have been hospitalized, Sen. Maharath revealed on her Twitter account. “We DESPERATELY need you to wear your masks and stay at home if you’re sick,” she said.
There are currently 109,923 reported cases in Ohio. Cases reported in the last 24 hours were 861; the 21 day average is 1,116.
One of the final remarks by Governor DeWine, who mostly spoke about school sports guidelines, was regarding the spread in rural areas and its impact on youth: “You’re going to see that spread in the schools” he noted.