Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
The rate of COVID-19 cases in some rural Ohio counties has begun to increase, while some urban centers are seeing improvement, state data shows (Source: “Data Indicates COVID Growing in Rural Counties, Slowing in Urban Areas,” Springfield News Sun, August 20, 2020).
The new data was released on August 20 as part of a weekly update by the Ohio Department of Health. The counties each receive an advisory on a scale of 1-4 based on seven indicators of how prolific coronavirus is in a community. The full data for each county can be found online.
Governor Mike DeWine attributed the improvements in more urban counties to longer adoption of masking in public.
“What has happened is we’ve seen the urban areas with a bigger percentage of people wearing masks for a longer period of time and we’re seeing those numbers go down. Unfortunately we’re seeing those numbers go up in our rural areas,” Gov. DeWine said.