PORT CLINTON – In accordance with the Ohio Department of Health’s Public Health Advisory System Ottawa County has been elevated to the RED Level 3 Advisory for the first time since the pandemic began. This means that Ottawa County has triggered 4-5 of the indicators established to elevate the county from orange to red.

Ottawa County currently meets the following indicators:

• More than 50 cases per 100K residents in past 2 weeks
• New cases trajectory increased over a 5-day period
• Proportion of cases not in a congregate setting
• Sustained increase in emergency department visits for COVID-like illness

The Public Health Advisory System is designed to provide an alert to the community in regard the current exposure and spread of COVID-19 so that people can make informed decision to protect the most vulnerable or at risk population. The Red Level 3 alert indicates that Ottawa County is currently experiencing very high exposure and spread.

Ottawa County currently exceeds the CDC’s threshold for high incidence and is seeing a sustained increase in new cases. Since the beginning of October, there have been more than 100 cases to date which is triple the number of cases that Ottawa County had last month. The current positive cases in Ottawa County indicates that 75% of the cases are in the age range of 40-79 while less than 10% are school aged children and no confirmed outbreaks in congregate settings. Ottawa County is not currently experiencing any large outbreaks and the cases as identified are located throughout the county.

12% of cases reported in October have required hospitalization with the age ranging from 44-87 years of age with 50 being the median age. It also important to note that 92% of hospitalizations have comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes as most commonly reported.

While it is difficult to identify any one reason for the significant increase in cases, we have identified several cases that have very mild symptoms. If you are currently experiencing new or worsening of the following COVID-like symptoms including sinus headache, congestion, fever, dry cough, sore throat, you are strongly advised to stay home and away from others. Please seek medical attention if conditions do not improve or if you are experiencing other symptoms such as chest pains or trouble breathing.