Scioto and Pike County, Ohio both remained on red COVID health alert status this week. According to Scioto EMA Director Larry Mullins, Scioto County met four out of the seven indicators for red status, including cases per capita, new cases, non-congregate cases, and outpatient visits. The Scioto County and Portsmouth City Health Departments reported 17 new positive COVID19 cases today. The new cases bring the total to 567 for the county since the outbreak of the virus. So far this week, 39 new cases were added to the total. According to Mullins, 87 of those cases are active. There have been 9 death in the county so far from the virus.
Governor Mike DeWine said, “Local health departments report cases associated with sports teams, social gatherings, and community spread.”
Pike County currently reports 37 active cases. DeWine said that 22 cases in Pike County are linked to one large event in another county
Alert Levels
Ohio’s Health Alert Levels are as follows:
-  1 Yellow – Active Exposure and Spread
-  2 Orange – Increased exposure and spread
-  3 Red – Very high exposure and spread
-  4 Purple – Severe exposure and spread
The indicators used to determine the ranking are:
- Number of new cases based on the population of the county
- A sustained increase in cases
- Cases not coming from high-risk settings like nursing homes or jails
- Increase in ER visits for COVID symptoms
- Sustained Increase in Outpatient visits for COVID symptoms
- Increase in new COVID hospital admissions
- ICU occupancy rate goes above 80% for three days
