Coronavirus In Ohio: 968 New Cases, 4 Deaths

COLUMBUS, OH — Officials confirmed 968 new coronavirus cases in Ohio over the past 24 hours, the state health department said Sunday afternoon.

The state has seen a surge of new cases over the past week. Political leaders around Ohio are worried the Independence Day festivities will lead to further spread of the virus, at a time when Ohio officials are already struggling to stymie COVID-19's spread.

On Sunday, the Ohio Department of Health released the following COVID-19 numbers for the past 24 hours:

• New cases: 968
• New deaths: 4
• New hospitalizations: 61
• New ICU admissions: 6

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Gov. Mike DeWine has argued that while Ohio has increased its COVID-19 testing capacity, the increase in tests is not solely responsible for the surge in newly identified cases. If Ohio actually had seen a decrease in the virus' spread, then the rate of positive tests should decrease as testing increased. Instead, Ohio's rate of positive tests has held steady or slightly increased, the governor noted.

On July 2, Ohio completed 20,214 COVID-19 tests; of those, 1,225 were positive. On July 3, Ohio completed 20,383 tests; of those, 1,137 were positive for the virus.