Athens County remains a red, or level three, county on Ohio’s Public Health Advisory System as it passed 4,500 COVID-19 cases the week of Feb. 14.
The county currently has 4,536 COVID-19 cases as of Sunday, with 434 of those cases presumed active. Red county distinction means Athens County still has high exposure and spread of COVID-19, according to the Ohio Department of Health website. There have been 122 new cases reported in the last week and one hospitalization.
Athens ICU beds are at 53.03% capacity with 4.55% occupied by COVID-19 patients.
Ohio is currently in phase 1B of its coronavirus vaccine distribution plan. Nursing home residents, health care and frontline workers, K-12 employees, those with childhood conditions or qualifying health conditions and Ohians 65 and older are currently eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
So far, 3,336 Athens residents have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine through the Athens City-County Health Department. Of those individuals, 1,567 have received both doses.
Those seeking information on vaccination sites and availability can visit the Ohio Department of Health’s new COVID-19 Vaccine Locations tool.
On Ohio University’s campus, 25 of the 29 residence halls are at the yellow level, and four are at the orange level. Washington Hall currently has the highest positivity rate at 0.8%, according to OU’s COVID-19 dashboard.
As of Feb. 17, OU has a 1.4% seven day average positivity rate among students. Currently, 8.88% of quarantine housing and 20.59% of isolation housing is in use.
