During a press conference on Friday, July 16th, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that more than 20 percent of Ohio’s 88 counties have now triggered “level three red” designations according to the Ohio Public Health Advisory System. The alert system is color-coded, and provides detailed information and analysis on each county’s spread of COVID-19. Counties are ranked on one of four levels, with one being “active exposure and spread,” and four being “severe exposure and spread.”

Within the WRDL listening area, Richland County and Lorain County have both received “level three red” designations, and masks are now mandatory in public. Governor DeWine said Richland County, which has a population of 121,000 people, has seen more new positive tests in the last few weeks than all of Jamaica, with a population of 2.9 million.

Pop-up testing will continue across the state this week as virus cases increase. Ohio now has more than seventy-thousand cases and three-thousand virus deaths. Mask-wearing is strongly urged.

Information on the state’s plan to slowly re-open the economy can be found online at ODH.Ohio.gov with specific details and statistics found online at Coronavirus.Ohio.gov.

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For information and facts regarding COVID-19, please visit WRDLFM.com.

According to the Ashland County Health Department, the Ohio Department of Health’s Call Center can be reached at 1-833-4-ASK-ODH (1-833-427-5634). The ODH Call Center is staffed by nurses and infectious disease specialists 7 days a week from 9am until 8pm.

(Photo courtesy of Ohio Department of Health/Coronavirus.Ohio.gov)