Cuyahoga County Could Soon Get Worst COVID-19 Classification

CLEVELAND — Cuyahoga County is now in the top 20 of Ohio counties for most COVID-19 spread and could soon be classified as "purple," by the state health department.

On Thursday, the Ohio Department of Health released its revised rankings for Ohio's 88 counties based on highest occurrence of COVID-19. The rankings are based on cases per 100,000 residents.

Cuyahoga County is ranked No. 20, of Ohio's 88 counties, for most COVID-19 spread. The county could soon hit "purple" classification on the state's color-coded COVID-19 warning system. Purple is the worst classification a county can receive.

Based on the state health department's data, there are now 786.4 cases per 100,000 Cuyahoga County residents. There were 9,712 cases confirmed in Cuyahoga County between Nov. 18 and Dec. 1. There are slightly more than 1.2 million people living in Cuyahoga County.

If these metrics remain steady or rise through next week, Cuyahoga County will become purple.

Ohio is in the midst of a COVID-19 surge, but health officials believe the spike is unrelated to Thanksgiving.

"We still haven't seen the impact of Thanksgiving in our hospital numbers. Usually, people are admitted a week after they're diagnosed. This is not the beginning of the end. This is not even the end of the beginning," Dr. Andrew Thomas, from Wexner Medical Center said Thursday.

Hospitals across Ohio, particularly in rural regions, are running out of beds and staff to care for patients.

"We will be overwhelmed by this increase of patients if things don't change," said Dr. Nora Colburn, an infectious disease expert at Wexner. She added that it is unsafe to be around anyone from outside your household if you're not wearing a mask and maintaining social distance.

"We must slow the spread of this virus," Colburn said.