Tuesday, January 11th, 2022
Transmission, test positivity jumps
By Leslie Gartrell
WAPAKONETA - Auglaize County Health Department officials in a news release Monday reported 141 new cases of COVID-19 in the county since their last report on Thursday, raising the county's cumulative number of cases to 6,036.
The county's rate of community transmission and test positivity has also skyrocketed since Thursday's report, a trend county health commissioner Oliver Fisher said is distressing.
"The numbers are at an alarming high," Fisher said in an email Monday night. "But I cannot confirm if that is the highest they have been."
The county's rate of transmission has nearly doubled, increasing to 1,086.39 cases per capita from Thursday's report of 589.19 cases per 100,000 people.
The county's test positivity rate also rose nearly 10%, jumping to 31.67% from Thursday's report of 22.22%. The high test positivity rate means one out of every five people tested are positive for the virus.
A high transmission rate is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as 100 or more new cases per 100,000 people in a seven-day period or a test positivity rate of 10% or higher.
Officials in the release also reported a cumulative 2,187 probable cases, 545 hospitalizations, 8,261 people who are presumed to have recovered and 90 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
Officials in the release renewed their plea for residents to do what they can to minimize the spread of COVID-19, including getting vaccinated, staying home when sick, frequent hand washing, wearing a mask, social distancing and following public health guidance for contract tracing, isolation and quarantine.
As of Monday night, the Ohio Department of Health reported a cumulative 2,207,270 confirmed and probable cases, 99,830 hospitalizations and 30,072 Ohio resident deaths since the pandemic began.
COVID-19 data:
Ohio cases 2,207,270
Ohio deaths 30,072
Mercer Co. cases 6,281
Mercer Co. deaths 112
Auglaize Co. cases 6,036
Auglaize Co. deaths 90
