SIDNEY – Ohio’s COVID-19 cases continue to drop, and now are approximately one-sixth of what they were at their peak in mid-December.

During his press conference Thursday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Ohio has 143.8 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents. That number has continued to decline since mid-January. The state saw a peak of 845.5 cases per 100,000 residents on Dec. 16.

In the past two weeks, Shelby County has reported 45.3 cases per 100,000 residents, which is the third lowest total among Ohio’s 88 counties behind Meigs (21.8) and Mercer (41.3) counties.

In total, Shelby County has reported 4,452 cases of COVID-19 with 146 hospitalizations and 83 deaths during the pandemic. The county saw an increase of three deaths reported since last week.

There are 4,313 Shelby County residents who are presumed to have recovered from COVID-19, and there are 56 active cases – down from the 64 active cases that were reported last week.

Throughout Ohio there have been 995,785 cases of COVID-19 with 51,993 hospitalizations, 7,312 intensive care admissions and 17,992 resident deaths.

In Shelby County, 8,178 people have started or completed COVID-19 vaccinations, which is 16.83% of the population and up 1,239 people since last week. Statewide, 2,567,312 people have been vaccinated, which is 21.96% of the population.

For more information about COVID-19, visit https://coronavirus.ohio.gov and www.shelbycountyhealthdept.org.