COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – On another day the Ohio Department of Health reported a new record daily increase in COVID-19 cases, the agency reported a new record weekly increase in cases at Ohio schools.
ODH on Thursday reported 2,808 new cases of coronavirus among students and staff members, far eclipsing last week’s record increase of 2,010.
Each of the nine weeks ODH has reported these figures has been a record increase. The cumulative total now stands at 9,876. Just two weeks ago, it was barely 5,000.
Cumulative COVID-19 cases reported by Ohio schools:
6,030 (61%) of Ohio’s cases are students and 3,846 (39%) are staff members, which include teachers, administrators, coaches and support staff. (See more information on the data in the dropdown below).
Schools report cases among students and staff to ODH on Tuesdays, and ODH releases numbers on Thursdays at 2 p.m. However, the numbers a school reports to ODH may not be as recent as Tuesday.
Case criteria
ODH reports "new" and "cumulative" cases. Cases only move over to "cumulative" once the person is no longer COVID-positive. This means the number of "new" cases each week is not guaranteed to be the weekly difference between "cumulative" totals. More info
1,107 schools have reported at least one coronavirus case this school year, an increase of 115 since last week. That is nearly 40% of the 2,774 schools, districts, private schools, vocational schools, preschools and other non-college institutions the state tracks.
Four large public districts around Columbus are in the top five for cumulative cases: Olentangy Local Schools, Dublin City Schools, South-Western City Schools and Hilliard City Schools.
Hilliard is new to the top of the list this week. Since weekly numbers were first released in September, Hilliard was showing just five cumulative cases in the state’s data despite showing dozens of cases on the district’s own dashboard.
NBC4 brought the error to ODH's attention after a viewer reached out. Press Secretary Melanie Amato said there was a discrepancy with the Franklin County Health Department (which reports the numbers to ODH), and the state is now showing accurate numbers.
