News

More Ohio National Guard members are being deployed to help with the COVID pandemic

By: Jo Ingles | Statehouse News Bureau
Posted on: Thursday, December 30, 2021

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Wednesday marked the highest daily average for new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 during the pandemic as 20,320 Ohioans have tested positive over the past 24 hours. And Ohio’s hospitals report being understaffed to serve the crush of patients they are caring for in their facilities.

Statewide coronavirus numbers for December 29, 2021. — [ODH]

Dr. Robert Wyllie of the Cleveland Clinic said more than 3000 people are hospitalized in the Northern zone where Cleveland is located. He said it’s the highest ever in that zone. And Wyllie said the Cleveland Clinic itself has more than 1,000 patients in its hospital with COVID. Of those, 210 in ICU. He said more than 2,700 workers there are out with COVID right now.

Gov. Mike DeWine said hospitals are telling him they need more Ohio National Guard members to help out in their facilities. So, he’s authorized 1,250 members of the Ohio National Guard, most going to northern Ohio, where they are desperately needed.

“We are going to be guided by where they are needed the most today. And so two weeks from now it may be different. It may be different on two day or three days from now,” DeWine said.

There are now 460 Ohio National Guard members in Cleveland, 160 in Toledo, and 100 in Columbus. Others are in the process of being deployed to Mansfield, Dayton, and Lima. DeWine didn’t give a timetable for how long National Guard members might be deployed but he promised they wouldn’t be deployed longer than necessary.

Health leaders are continuing to urge Ohioans to get vaccinated. Right now, more than 58% of Ohioans are fully vaccinated. Yet, hospitals say the patients they are seeing are largely unvaccinated. Since June 1, 2021, DeWine said 35,962 people have been admitted to hospitals with COVID. Of those, 2,687 were fully vaccinated.

FILE — In this March 31, 2021 file photo, a nurse fills a syringe with a dose of the Johnson & Johnson's one-dose COVID-19 vaccine at the Vaxmobile, at the Uniondale Hempstead Senior Center, in Uniondale, N.Y. The U.S. is recommending a “pause” in administration of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to investigate reports of potentially dangerous blood clots. In a joint statement Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said it was investigating clots in six women in the days after vaccination, in combination with reduced platelet counts. — A nurse fills a syringe with a dose of the Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose COVID-19 vaccine at the Vaxmobile, at the Uniondale Hempstead Senior Center, in Uniondale, N.Y. [AP Photo | Mary Altaffer, File]

Ohio is experiencing high demand for COVID tests. About 1.4 million rapid at-home tests have been distributed to public libraries throughout Ohio in December alone. And lines at the Walker mass testing site in Cleveland have been long in recent days. Wylie said 36% of the tests conducted at that site are coming back positive.

State health leaders say the record-high number of positive cases being recorded is actually lower than the real number. When Ohioans get a PCR COVID test at a clinic or pharmacy, those results are automatically reported to the state. But when Ohioans take rapid at-home tests, they are not required to report the results. So, Gov Mike DeWine said the real number of positive cases is higher than what is reported.

“We’re willing to accept that because we think there is a lot of good for people to be able to take a test and know, at least in that snapshot of time, whether or not they are positive,” DeWine said.

DeWine said those who test positive on at-home kits often decide to stay away from others, preventing more spread of the virus. Rapid tests are reported to be in short supply right now as libraries deplete their stock quickly. And there’s no word on when new stock will become available.