Ohio Hits 2-Month High For COVID-19 Deaths

CLEVELAND — Ohio hit a two-month high for COVID-19 deaths on Thursday.

In the past 24 hours, at least 50 Ohioans have died from COVID-19 complications. That's one of the highest single-day death tolls since the pandemic began in Ohio and well above the state's three-week average of 22 deaths per day.

Gov. Mike DeWine said Ohio has not seen so much COVID-19 death since June.

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Ohio also saw a spike in new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, with 1,345 new cases confirmed in the past 24 hours. That's up versus the state's average of 1,033 new cases per day.

While new cases and deaths were up Thursday, hospitalizations and intensive care admissions related to the virus held relatively steady versus their three-week averages.

Gov. Mike DeWine has been urging Ohioans to follow social distancing guidelines as the Labor Day holiday approaches. Independence Day caused a surge in new COVID-19 cases and DeWine said he wants to avoid a similar spike following Labor Day.

"What we saw over the Fourth of July was an uptick in travel, people getting together," DeWine said Thursday. "Then we saw an uptick in cases. What we do [now] will determine where we are in the fall."

The governor said visiting family in a state park is "pretty benign, pretty safe." However, attending a large barbecue, where there is no social distancing, is "a lot more dangerous."

Here are all of Thursday's COVID-19 numbers:

• New cases: 1,345
• New deaths: 50
• New hospitalizations: 89
• New ICU admissions: 14