COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – As COVID-19 cases caused by the omicron variant start to decrease, will the trend continue?

The Ohio Department of Health reported 2,070 new cases Sunday, the lowest number of new cases reported in one day since early August. By comparison, the state reported more than 26,000 new cases, many of which related to a backlog in reporting, on Jan. 16.

Hospitalizations also continue to drop, down to 48 Sunday from a high of 689 on Jan. 19.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” said Dr. Derek McClellan, a pediatrician with Central Ohio Primary Care.

Doctors are cautiously optimistic the trend will continue, saying with people staying indoors due to this past week’s winter storm, there has been less of an opportunity for the virus to spread.

And the decline is not just being seen in cases among adults; numbers for children’s cases are on the decline as well. Coronavirus cases reported every week by Ohio schools came in under 20,000 for the first time this week.

Doctors said with this week’s winter storm forcing schools and some businesses to close, there have been fewer opportunities for infection to spread.

“So I think the timing of this last winter storm was right because it was hitting right on that downslope of what we were already seeing with omicron, so I think that is going to carry us forward and maybe some brighter times here ahead,” McClellan said.

At Central Ohio Primary Care, they tested fewer than 500 kids last week, way down from nearly 1,700 who were tested near the beginning of January.

And while cases are trending in the right direction, numbers are still high, but the news is hopeful.

“On a seven-day moving average, our cases are down 73% from where they were 14 days ago, hospitalizations are down 33% and, unfortunately, the ultimate lagging indicator — deaths — are still going up in the state of Ohio,” said Dr. Joseph Gastaldo, an infectious disease specialist with OhioHealth.

Gastaldo said while we still have a long way to go in the pandemic, there are at least some signs of progress. His only hope now is that people will continue getting vaccinated, masking up, and staying vigilant.

“We have the tools in 2022 moving forward, to really learn to live safely with this virus,” he said.

Like anything else during the pandemic, Gastaldo said, there is no way to predict what the virus will do, and staying cautious and prepared will help prevent the spread of the next variant.