The numbers:
• More than 118,000 have been infected, or about one in every 100 Ohioans.
• More than 13,000 have been hospitalized, or more than one of every 10 diagnosed with COVID-19.
• More than 4,000 have died, or 33 of every 100,000 people. Ohio ranks 22nd for deaths per capita and is below the national rate of 50 per 100,000.
• Two of every three deaths were a nursing home patient.
• Blacks represent 19 percent of the deaths but are 12 percent of the state population.
Averages for the most recent three weeks:
• 1,000 new people diagnose positive daily.
• Nearly 90 new people are hospitalized daily.
• 21 people die daily.
Comparisons:
• The number of people infected would exceed Ohio State University stadium capacity by more than 10,000
• At the current rate of infection, the number of people diagnosed with COVID-19 by mid-September will equal the population of Dayton, Ohio’s sixth-largest city.
Why such attention to this issue?
• A statewide poll by Your Voice Ohio and the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics shows that Ohioans ranked the COVID-19 pandemic their biggest concern this election season. A close second is the economy, which has been greatly affected by the pandemic.
• Ohioans in Southeast, Southwest and Central regions of the state named the pandemic their number one issue. Northeast and Northwest regions ranked the economy their top issue, with the pandemic a close second.