COLUMBUS, Ohio (WJW) – Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lieutenant Gov. Jon Husted talked about the latest developments on coronavirus in the state Monday afternoon.
During the press conference, DeWine talked about a backlog of positive antigen tests (as seen in the video above).
“We currently have nearly 12,600 positive antigen tests in our pending queue,” he said. “To address those cases in our pending queue, we will apply this updated case definition to positive antigen tests dating back to Nov. 1.”
The release of these numbers will result in a one-day spike in reported cases tomorrow, DeWine said.
DeWine also said during a question and answer session that Ohio’s current curfew order will need to be extended, as it’s set to run out this week. He said more would be addressed at a press conference on Thursday.
DeWine also said he wanted Congress to get a COVID-19 relief package passed before the holiday break to help all Americans.
Over the weekend, there were more than 18,000 new cases in the state reported by the Ohio Department of Health. Seventy-seven people died this weekend of COVID-19 in Ohio.
The state’s hospitals continue to make changes to free up beds.
As reported Monday, there have now been 484,297 total confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in the state since the pandemic began, which includes an addition of 9,273 cases reported today, along with a total of 7,022 deaths (including 63 additional fatalities reported today).
The total number of hospitalizations due to the virus is now 29,569 people. The median age of those Ohioans getting coronavirus is now 42 years old.
In the last 24 hours, 336 new hospitalizations have been reported and 40 ICU admissions.
The Cleveland Clinic and several other hospitals have postponed elective surgeries that require an overnight stay.
It’s still not clear what other restrictions could come from the governor’s office.
“We’ll have to do more,” he said Friday.
“We don’t have a choice,” he reiterated in a tweet.
The state’s coronavirus cases have yet to plateau, according to ODH data.
