01/20/2022

COVID-19 Update: 21,644 New Cases Reported Today

Jan. 20, 2022

Today, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) reported 21,664 new COVID-19 cases and 508 new hospitalizations. The agency did not report any additional deaths.

As of Jan. 17, 2022, 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 77.53 percent of all cases in Ohio with delta accounting for 22.11 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 2,460,869 confirmed cases, 31,245 deaths and 103,914 hospitalizations. The agency also reported 1,984,127 presumed recoveries and indicated approximately 7,119,018 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.