Cleveland coronavirus cases up 1,200 percent since early October

The Cleveland area has seen its number of coronavirus cases skyrocket by 1,259 percent in the past seven weeks according to the Ohio Department of Health, as cases across the country continue to climb.

On Oct. 1, when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) released an advisory alert map, the Cleveland/Akron area was reporting an average of 83 cases a day, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Now, the area is averaging 1,134 cases a day.

The Buckeye State, like many states in recent weeks, on Friday broke its record for new cases in a single day, reporting 8,808 cases. So far, 343,286 coronavirus cases and 5,984 deaths have been reported in Ohio.

Last week Franklin County, where the state’s capital of Columbus is located, was elevated to the highest public emergency level, indicating a risk of “severe exposure and spread.” The recommendation for residents in a county at this level is to “only leave home for supplies and services.”

Last week, Columbus health officials announced a month-long health advisory, urging residents to only leave the home for essential needs, work and school.

“I’m not going to mince words: We have entered a dangerous time in our fight against COVID-19. This surge is much scarier than we saw in the spring or again in the summer,” Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther (D) said after the advisory was announced.

When the advisory system was first released on Oct. 1, 11 counties were classified as Level 3. Now, of Ohio’s 88 counties, 15 are at Level 2, one is at Level 4 and the rest are Level 3.

In a tweet last week, DeWine warned that “Other counties may not yet be seeing continuous, uninterrupted increases in the same way that is causing Franklin to move to purple, but make no mistake—almost all counties are seeing more cases and more healthcare use that could threaten the medical system if they continue.”