Scioto County EMA Director Larry Mullins announced five new cases of COVID-19 in Scioto County. This comes as Governor Mike DeWine issued a mandatory mask order for seven Ohio Counties. We break down what’s happening.
Scioto County Numbers
The five new positive cases raised Scioto County’s total to 53 total cases.
Two more people have recovered or completed their isolation protocol. This brings the total of recovered to 32.
- Cases – 60,181
- Hospitalizations – 8,489
- Deaths 2,991
Mandatory Masks In Red Alert Counties
Governor Mike DeWine announced that face masks are mandatory in Ohio Counties graded red on the new health alert system. Affected counties are:
- Butler
- Cuyahoga
- Franklin
- Hamilton
- Huron
- Montgomery
- Trumbull
Masks must be worn:
- In any indoor location that is not a residence
- When they are outdoors and unable to consistently maintain a distance of six feet or more from individuals who are not members of their household
- Waiting for, riding, driving, or operating public transportation, a taxi, a private car service, or a ride-sharing vehicle.
- This Order does not apply to children under the age of 10 or any other minor who cannot safely wear a face covering.
DeWine declined to say whether he’ll issue mandatory masking for the entire state if this doesn’t help slow the spread. “We’ll cross those other bridges when we come to them.”
Health Alert System
Ohio’s COVID-19 cases continued to climb and Governor Mike DeWine is worried. He announced a new color-coded health alert system to rank the severity of COVID-19 cases in each county.
The Levels are:
- 1 Yellow – Active Exposure and Spread
- 2 Orange – Increased exposure and spread
- 3 Red – Very high exposure and spread
- 4 – Purple – Severe exposure and spread
The indicators used to determine the ranking are:
- 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 ranks at level 2.