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ATHENS, Ohio -- From Dec. 23 to Jan. 5, Athens County ranked 81st out of Ohio's 88 counties in terms of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people at 924.6.
Dec. 30 to Jan. 12, the rate jumped to 1,873.7, 29th in the state.
According to the most recent statistics released Thursday by the Ohio Department of Health, the county of 65,327 residents recorded 2,154 new cases from Jan. 6-19, which works out to 3,297.3 per 100,000 people, third highest in the state.
What changed?
"OU came back," said Jack Pepper, Athens City-County Health Department administrator. "No rocket science here at all."
Classes resumed at Ohio University on Jan. 10, and the school is requiring all of its approximately 15,000 campus students to take an asymptomatic COVID test before attending classes or other campus activities, Pepper said.
"Of course you're going to catch a lot of people who, they may be asymptomatic, they may have thought they have a cold," but would not otherwise have gotten tested, he said.
The Health Department contacted state officials to let them know to expect the Athens numbers to skyrocket, Pepper said.
The increase in Athens County and around the country is attributed largely to the omicron variant of the virus. It's considered more contagious but generally less severe than the previously dominant delta strain.
While that matches what Athens County health officials are seeing anecdotally, Pepper said it's still creating a strain on the local health care system.
"Because of the contagious nature of omicron, we're just seeing huge numbers," he said. "Because of the huge numbers, there's still a segment of the population that doesn't handle the disease well," and that's offsetting the fact that this strain may not be as hard on everyone.
The statewide rate of new cases per 100,000 people in the last two weeks rose to 2,154.8 from 1,883.8 in the previous span, the Ohio Department of Health reported.
With 981 new cases from Jan. 6-19 compared to 702 Dec. 30 to Jan. 12 among its 59,911 residents, Washington County's rate rose from 1,171.7 (79th) to 1,637.4 (77th).
An increase from 251 new cases to 323 moved Monroe County's rate from 1,838.3 to 2,365.6, but the county with a population of 13,654 actually dropped in rank from 33rd to 43rd.
Morgan County, population 14,508, and Noble County, 14,424, followed a similar path. Morgan's rate rose from 1,509.5 (219 new cases) to 1,957.5 (284) but its rank dipped from 57th to 59th. Noble County's rate went from 1,455.9 (210 new cases, 63rd) to 1,913.5 (276, 64th).
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.