CDC recommends masks in Washington, Morgan, Noble counties

Ohio’s COVID-19 cases continue to rise

With the CDC's local COVID-19 community level designated as "high," the Washington County Health Department is requiring masks to be worn at its facility.

The agency is letting folks know that CDC guidance recommends doing so in any indoor public setting in a county designated as high, but it cannot require the practice outside its own walls.

The Ohio Legislature passed Senate Bill 22 last year, over the veto of Gov. Mike DeWine. Among other effects, it prohibits local health departments from issuing orders that apply to individuals who have not been diagnosed with or come into contact with someone who has the disease whose spread they're trying to prevent.

Angie Rarey, director of nursing for the Washington County Health Department, noted that when mask-wearing was more prevalent, the spread of other illnesses, not just COVID-19, was reduced.

"They do serve a purpose," she said. "I realize they're annoying, but they're helpful."

Cases of COVID-19 are increasing around the state and in southeast Ohio, where Washington, Morgan and Noble counties were marked "high" in this week's update of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID community levels.

In Washington County, that's because new COVID-19-related hospital admissions per 100,000 people exceeded 20 over the seven days prior to Thursday.

New cases over the previous two weeks have totaled 242, which Rarey attributed it to the latest, even more infectious variant of the virus.

"BA.5 (an omicron subvariant) is just much, much more contagious, so there's just a lot more people getting it," she said, noting the strain tends to reinfect people who have previously tested positive faster.

Experts have said that while BA.5 is more infectious, it doesn't appear to have more severe effects.

Marietta Memorial Hospital had about 16 COVID-positive patients Friday, said Jennifer Offenberger, associate vice president, service excellence, for the Memorial Health System.

"We've been hovering around 10 for several weeks so (it's a) small jump," she said. "We're finding these patients are not needing as much oxygen as those from our first round."

Morgan and Noble counties had lower rates of new hospitalizations, but each of the small-population areas had enough new cases over the past seven days to exceed 200 per 100,000 people over the previous seven days, according to CDC data. Athens and Monroe counties remain on the "medium" designation, in which the CDC recommends people who are more at risk for serious complications from the virus discuss masking and other precautions with their health care provider.

Overall, Ohio's rate of new cases increased, according to this week's data from the state Department of Health.

The state averaged 391.4 new cases per 100,000 people from July 7-20, compared to 334.1 from June 30 to July 13.

With a population of 59,911, Washington County's 242 new cases in the most recent period gave it a rate of 403.9 per 100,000, 44th highest in the state. In the previous span, the county had 170 new cases and its rate of 283.8 was 61st among Ohio's 88 counties.

Morgan County kept the 14th highest rate in the state with 73 new cases among its 14,508 residents over the last two weeks for a rate of 503.2 per 100,000. In the earlier period, it had 65 new cases and a rate of 448.

Athens County, population 65,327, was just ahead at 13th with 329 new cases for a rate of 503.6 per 100,000. That's an increase from the previous 312 cases and rate of 477.6 that was ninth, but other counties' increases surpassed it.

Monroe County vaulted from 49th to 28th as its new cases rose from 44 to 62. That works out to rates of 322.2 and 454.1, respectively, for the state's second-least populated county (13,654).

Noble County stayed mostly the same, dropping from 52 new cases to 50 among its 14,424 residents. But with other counties seeing increases, Noble's rate dropped from 29th (360.5 per 100,000) to 58th (346.6).

Evan Bevins can be reached at

ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.