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Athens County Confirms Two Deaths Related To COVID-19, 41 New Cases For December 24

By: Aaron Payne
Posted on: Thursday, December 24, 2020

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Athens County has now had eight total deaths related to COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic after two were confirmed Thursday. The county now also has had 2,926 total cases of COVID-19 after 41 were reported the same day.

The Ohio Department of Health confirmed the deaths and new cases on December 24.

Analysis of ODH data indicates the deaths involved a person in their 70s and a person aged 80 or older.

Regarding the new cases, nine involved people aged 50-59, seven involved people aged 20-29, seven involved people aged 60-69, six involved people aged 0-19, four involved people aged 30-39, four involved people aged 40-49, two involved people aged 70-79 and two involved people aged 80+.

An additional case involving a person 80 or older required hospitalization. ODH indicated the total number of hospitalizations in the county since the beginning of the pandemic is now up to 119.

There are 527 known active cases in the county as of Thursday. There are 2,391 recovered cases, according to the Athens City-County Health Department.

Anyone experiencing respiratory symptoms is asked to call their primary care physician, urgent care, or emergency department before arriving for care to let them know that they believe they are experiencing symptoms related to COVID-19 virus.

Athens County remained at a Level 3 Public Health Emergency, according to this week’s Public Health Advisory map.

The county only met two of the seven state indicators: new cases per capita and non-congregate cases. But it did not drop below the high incidence threshold of over 100 cases per 100,000 over a two-week period, keeping it at the Level 3 designation.

Thursday at 2 p.m., the Ohio Department of Health announced 653,650 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 statewide after 8,828 cases were reported in the last 24 hours. There have been 36,345 hospitalizations and 8,456 reported deaths since the start of the pandemic.

The department said there would be no update for December 25. Daily totals will resume on the December 26 and will reflect data from the previous 48 hours.

ODH makes the following recommendations to protect yourself from illness:

• Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds; dry hands with a clean towel or air dry hands.
• Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer when soap and water are unavailable.
• Cover your mouth with a tissue or sleeve when sneezing or coughing. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Avoid contact with people who are sick.

Ohio’s coronavirus call center is open to answer questions from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. The hotline number is 1-833-4-ASK-ODH or 1-833-427-5634. More information is available at coronavirus.ohio.gov.