CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio — After Cuyahoga County was labeled as having a 'high' community level of COVID-19 on Thursday, the local government is adjusting accordingly.
On Friday, Cuyahoga County announced that regardless of vaccination status, all employees and visitors to its government-owned buildings will be required to wear masks, effective Monday, Aug. 1. The move comes in accordance with an executive order that established a protocol giving the Cuyahoga County Executive the authority to require masks in County buildings once Cuyahoga County’s Community Levels reached “high," as defined by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
In addition to wearing masks, visitors are asked to keep a distance of at least six feet from one another, with no more than four people in an elevator at a time.
The CDC identifies an area's COVID-19 community level based on the following three factors:
- New COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 population in the last 7 days
- Percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by patients with confirmed COVID-19 (7-day average)
- New COVID-19 cases per 100,00 population in the last 7 days.
On Thursday, Cuyahoga County reported an average of 228 cases per day, which is above the 200-case threshold to be labeled as having a “high” community level of COVID-19.
In addition to Cuyahoga County, seven other Northeast Ohio counties are also currently in the 'orange' or 'high' category of COVID-19 community level, including the following:
- Erie - 270.35 cases per 100K, 13.6 new hospitalizations
- Huron - 229.98 cases per 100K, 13.6 new hospitalizations
- Lorain - 284.35 cases per 100K, 13.6 new hospitalizations
- Mahoning - 174.04 cases per 100K, 24.6 new hospitalizations
- Portage - 229.59 cases per 100K, 12.1 new hospitalizations
- Richland - 288.89 cases per 100K, 10.9 new hospitalizations
- Trumbull - 178.81 cases per 100K, 24.6 new hospitalizations