Athens County passed 2,000 total coronavirus cases on Nov. 28 as the county reentered the “red” level in the state’s Public Health Advisory Alert System. There are 461 coronavirus cases that are active.
Level three, or “red,” indicates that there is very high exposure and spread of the coronavirus in the county. Residents should limit their activities as much as possible.
The majority of counties in the state of Ohio are now at level three. Only a handful of counties are at level two, or “orange,” most of which are in Southeast Ohio.
About 70% of cases in Athens County are from people under the age of 30. At the state level, that number is at about 31%.
There have been over 100 new cases reported in Athens County each week since the start of November.
Ohio University has tested 1,420 students on the Athens campus through its symptomatic testing protocol with the COVID-19 hotline, 693 of which were positive results. Another 119 tests are still pending, according to OU’s COVID-19 Dashboard.
There have also been 217 Athens campus employees tested, 30 of which were positive. An additional 14 tests are still pending.
The university has also tested 9,756 students and employees on the Athens campus through its random testing as of Nov. 23. Of those tested, 406 have been positive, which is about a 3.1% positivity rate.
Athens County’s ICU beds are at about 72% total capacity, according to the Ohio Department of Health. COVID-19 patients make up 25% of that occupancy.
@ian__mckenzie
