Scioto County EMA Director Larry Mullins said the county is not to blame for changes in our Ohio Health Alert status. Mullins took the unusual step of emailing the press early on a Saturday morning to make the clarification.
Scioto County dropped from Red Alert Status back to Orange Alert Status this week. That despite the fact that the county added 50 new cases of COVID-19 last week.
Here’s what Mullins said, “I wanted to make a point of clarification about the level that Scioto County is on the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Public Health Advisory System. Our county’s level on the system is determined by ODH alone using a mathematical formula. There is absolutely no input from our local health departments, health commissioners, or any other local government, business, or community leaders. Scioto County, or any other county in Ohio, have no local input into whether we/they go up or down or what level we are on.”
Red Alert
Factors involved in declaring a red alert include:
- Number of new cases based on the population of the county
- A sustained increase in cases
- Cases not coming from high-risk settings like nursing homes or jails
- Increase in ER visits for COVID symptoms
- Sustained Increase in Outpatient visits for COVID symptoms
- Increase in new COVID hospital admissions
- ICU occupancy rate goes above 80% for three days
Scioto County Downgraded To Orange.
Red Alert
DeWine said fewer Ohio counties are red this week. However, more are rated orange this week. Red Counties as of July 30 are:
- Franklin
- Licking
- Hamilton
- Allen
- Montgomery
- Lucas
- Cuyahoga
- Defiance
- Erie
- Henry
- Lawrence
- Marion
- Medina
