Sandusky County seeing dramatic drop in new COVID-19 cases
FREMONT— After an ominous surge in January, Sandusky County is seeing a sharp decline this week in its recent COVID-19 case numbers.
Bethany Brown, the county's public health commissioner, said Thursday the county has averaged about 11 new cases a day this week, compared to 160 a day about a month ago.
Brown said Sandusky County Public Health still encourages residents to follow COVID-19 safety measures, like wearing masks, social distancing and vaccination shots.
She said she was encouraged by the downward trend and hoped there would not be any more COVID spikes in the foreseeable future, given the incredible strain the virus has put on the area's health care facilities since the start of 2022.
"COVID's not going to go away. So we're going to have to learn how to live with it," Brown said.
Tracker: Sandusky County's COVID cases fall 48.7%; Ohio cases plummet 34.4%
Sandusky County compared to state stats
Based on the Ohio Department of Health's measure of cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks, Sandusky County had 193.1 (113 positive COVID) cases and ranked 72nd out of the state's 88 counties.
The statewide average per 100,000 residents was 255.8.
Sandusky County recorded 1,624 COVID-19 cases in December, the highest number since the pandemic started in March 2020.
In a two week period in mid-January, according to the Ohio Department of Health, the county had 1,483 positive COVID-19 cases.
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Brown said in January that Sandusky County had seen an average of more than 160 new cases a day over the previous week.
Ohio reported 1,999 new COVID-19 cases Thursday.
Brown said the health department is still doing its vaccine clinics on Wednesdays and Thursdays, although she acknowledged attendance has fallen off compared to January.
Most residents that come to the clinics are getting booster shots, she said.
The county's vaccination rate stands at 54%, slightly lower than the statewide 57%.
With case numbers dropping, Brown said the state health department is urging health departments to focus more on prevention and outbreaks and less on contact tracing.
"We're not calling every single person that's tested positive," Brown said.
Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, Sandusky County has recorded 13,793 positive cases and 217 deaths.
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This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Sandusky County COVID cases way down, but 'not going to go away'
