After the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Friday recommended that 70 percent of the U.S. population can stop wearing masks to slow the spread of COVID-19, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) is still unwilling to update Ohioans on the status of the pandemic.
When contacted by The Ohio Star to to ask for the department’s professional opinion on whether Ohioans will soon be able to return to pre-pandemic life, ODH spokesman Ken Gordon declined to comment. The Star also noted that even Congress – which has had a mask mandate in place for two full years and threatened to fine members who refused to wear masks – finally made masks optional ahead of President Joe Biden’s Monday night State of the Union address.
Still, ODH would not confirm that the pandemic is subsiding.
Not only have mask guidelines been loosened, but COVID-19 cases in Ohio have plummeted after the much-feared Omicron variant wave peaked. In the month of February alone, the seven-day COVID-19 case average has dropped from just under 10,000 new cases per week, to just over 1,000 new cases per week.
By comparison, on February 27, 2021, the average seven-day caseload was 1,978, almost 800 weekly average cases higher than the 1,198 weekly average cases registered on February 27 of this year. The data shows that weekly cases have dropped much faster in February of this year than they did in February 2021.
The average seven-day death rate in February of this year peaked at 164, compared to a whopping 671 weekly death-rate peak in February of last year.
ODH has been less than forthcoming with The Star throughout the pandemic, particularly when asked whether the pandemic is subsiding.
When weekly COVID-19 cases reached pre-Omicron levels earlier this month, The Star asked ODH whether it was safe to say that Omicron had peaked in the state. ODH declined to comment.
The Star asked ODH similar questions when weekly case averages dropped by 10,000 in mid-to-late January. ODH declined to comment on those numbers, too.
Other states, including Oregon and Texas, confirmed nearly a month ago that Omicron cases had peaked, and Oregon even conceded that hospitalizations would begin declining at the beginning of February, indicating that the variant was subsiding.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
