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Ohio’s top doctor said it’s a little too early to talk about COVID as an endemic in Ohio

By: Jo Ingles | Statehouse News Bureau
Posted on: Wednesday, February 2, 2022

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — The number of positive COVID cases in Ohio and hospitalizations has been going down in recent days. And there are some signs that the pandemic could be evolving to an endemic, an illness like flu that is always around but not causing serious threats to the health care infrastructure.

But Ohio’s top doctor said it’s too early to talk about COVID as an endemic yet.

Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said Omicron has infected a lot of Ohioans, giving them some immunity. And that’s a sign Ohio could be moving toward an endemic.

“But we are on the way there. We haven’t arrived there yet. Before COVID-19 can become endemic, we need to see substantial reductions in our hospitalizations and case numbers coupled with more people vaccinated to keep the spread low,” Vanderhoff said.

Right now, just under 60% of eligible Ohioans are fully vaccinated (59.92% ages 5 and up). And there are more than 4000 (4,044) COVID patients hospitalized in all of the state’s hospitals. That’s one-fifth of the total number of patients in those facilities.