Lorain County Updates

Lorain County’s COVID-19 cases continued to decline this week. From March 12 to 18, the county reported 146 cases and nine hospitalizations. These numbers follow last week’s 189 cases, and multiple weeks of decreasing caseloads.

As of March 18, 68,975 people in Lorain County, or about 22.49 percent of the county’s population, have received at least one dose of the vaccine. 

Lorain County remains classified by the Ohio Department of Health at “Red Alert Level 3 Public Emergency” on a public emergency scale of four for “very high exposure and spread.” Level Three counties are advised to limit activities as much as possible. In order to move to a lower level, Lorain County must continue to lower per capita case levels and lower community spread outside of congregate settings.

Statewide Updates

ODH reported 6,352 new statewide COVID-19 cases and 236 hospitalizations in the last week.

In February, Governor Mike DeWine announced that when Ohio reaches 50 cases per 100,000 people for a two-week period, he will lift all COVID-19-related health orders. As of Thursday, Ohio has had 145 cases per 100,000 people for the previous two weeks. 

As of March 18, about 22 percent of Ohio residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Today vaccine eligibility has been expanded to those 40 and older and people with cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, and obesity. DeWine also announced earlier this week that people 16 and older will be eligible to receive a vaccination starting March 29. 

This week, Ohio opened its first mass vaccination site, operated by FEMA in the Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University. The site will be open for eight weeks and is aiming to administer 210,000 doses. Ohioans can find out more about eligibility and how to sign up for an appointment using Ohio’s vaccination tool.  

More information on COVID-19 in Ohio is available through the ODH and LCPH websites, where case numbers are updated every weekday at 2 p.m.

Oberlin College Updates

This week, the College once again had zero new COVID-19 cases out of the 690 tests administered. This is the fourth week in a row with no new COVID-19 cases. 

Oberlin was approved this week as a point of distribution for the COVID-19 vaccines. The state has not yet informed the school when it will receive vaccines. The College asks that students submit documentation of vaccination to their Student Health Portal.

Students who have vaccine appointments outside of Lorain and Cuyahoga Counties should submit a Temporary Travel Approval Form to the College; but they will not be required to quarantine or undergo additional testing.