COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Following the trend of cases, Ohio COVID-19 hospitalizations are making a sharp decline as the state sees the back end of the omicron variant wave.
Daily hospital admissions of people with the coronavirus peaked on Jan. 4 at 442 and has since dropped to 259 on Jan. 25, the most recent day that Ohio Department of Health data is not considered preliminary.
COVID-19 admissions are dropping statewide. Earlier in omicron’s decline, western and southern Ohio hospitals were still seeing rising hospitalizations weeks after places like Cleveland and Akron started seeing declines.
But Tuesday data from the Ohio Hospital Association shows the the seven- and 21-day trends of COVID-19 hospital admissions are down in every region:
| Region | 7-day change | 21-day change |
|---|---|---|
| Northwest (Region 1) | -20% | -50% |
| Northeast (Region 2) | -19% | -63% |
| West Central (Region 3) | -14% | -28% |
| Central (Region 4) | -28% | -50% |
| East Central (Region 5) | -22% | -61% |
| Southwest (Region 6) | -15% | -40% |
| Southeast Central (Region 7) | -17% | -3% |
| Southeast (Region 8) | -18% | -27% |
ODH Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, however, has noted that Ohio is not yet out of the woods. In his most recent public appearance on Friday, the state’s top doctor said hospitalizations are still “very high and very concerning.”
Ohio’s two-week average of admissions has been dropping for about a month, from a peak on Jan. 10 at 380 to 146 as of Tuesday. While nearly a third as the peak, the current 14-day average is only back to where it was in early November, when Ohio was seeing a delta variant resurgence.
“Despite these improvements, some Ohio hospitals continue to manage very high hospitalizations for COVID-19,” Vanderhoff said Friday. “But, the ongoing decline in hospitalizations is allowing many hospitals to resume services that needed to be postponed during this most recent surge.”
