01/18/2022

COVID-19 Update: 15,077 New Cases Reported Today

Jan. 18, 2022

Today, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) reported 15,077 new cases of COVID-19 and 423 new hospitalizations. The agency did not report any additional deaths.

As of yesterday, ODH officials said the state had cleared a backlog of tens of thousands of positive COVID-19 test results due to the unprecedented number of cases reported.

Omicron is now the dominant variant in the state, according to ODH; the agency data, collected between Dec. 18, 2021 and Jan. 1, 2022, indicate omicron comprises 74.24 percent of all cases in Ohio with delta accounting for 24.83 percent. Governor Mike DeWine recently said COVID-19 hospitalizations are at their highest levels of the pandemic. Ohio's health officials expect to see the omicron variant become dominant throughout the state. After several weeks, cases finally are starting to decline in northeast Ohio.

ODH also reported 2,418,722 confirmed cases, 31,245 deaths and 102,717 hospitalizations. The agency also reported 1,957,475 presumed recoveries and indicated approximately 7,113,063 Ohioans have received at least one dose of the vaccine. This figure represents nearly 61 percent of Ohioans - a low figure compared to numbers nationwide.