DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN)– As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to drop across the state, health leaders in the Miami Valley are optimistic for a relatively normal spring for residents.
“We expect every county in the Miami Valley to be medium or better which means masking indoors would no longer be a recommendation,” said Health Commissioner CCCHD Charles Patterson.
Ohioans are finally seeing progress, recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention Community Level Tracker shows few hot spots across the country. In the buckeye state, every county within the Miami Valley is officially out of the woods and showing medium to low levels. Public Health says while progress is the ultimate goal there also may be consequences.
“Cases going down is a great thing, we want to keep seeing that but the less cases there are, the less need people see to get vaccinated especially if they were on the fence or strongly against it,” said Public Health Dayton & Montgomery County PIO Dan Suffoletto.
Even with significant progress, Suffoletto believes COVID-19 isn’t going away any time soon.
“COVID is something that is going to be around for a long time and other strains will be a problem, so we need to continue the vaccination process and get as many people as possible,” said Suffoletto.
Patterson said COVID-related hospital admissions are down 70-percent in Clark County. If this trend continues, Patterson believes the spring may feel relatively normal for Ohioans.
“The cases and hospitalizations continue to plummet and we’re moving in the right direction,” said Patterson.
At this time the coronavirus dashboard shows almost 62-percent of all Ohioans have started the vaccination process.
