CEDARVILLE, Ohio — Gov. Mike DeWine along side Lt. Gov. Jon Husted held a press briefing Thursday to provide an update on the state's response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The briefing comes on the heels of tough week for Ohioans. Several grim milestones were met this week including the Ohio Department of Health reporting the largest daily increase of COVID-19 cases since pandemic began on Wednesday and COVID-19 related deaths surpassing 5,000 earlier in the week.
Unfortunately, Gov. DeWine delivered more bleak news as Ohio for the second day in a row set a record for the number of newly reported cases since the pandemic began. The Ohio Department of Health reported 2,178 new cases and 5 deaths in the last 24 hours.
On Thursday, DeWine noted that both Cuyahoga County and Summit County have returned to a Level 3 'red' advisory level. Nearby Portage County, Stark County and Mahoning County remain red as well.
Northeast Ohio is hardly alone in this regard as 29 of Ohio's 88 counties are currently listed as red, which indicates "very high exposure and spread." Altogether, 65 percent of Ohioans are currently living in red counties, with a total of 52 counties currently considered "high incidence."
The Governor also reached out to the medical community to provide perspective on the increase in COVID-19 cases and what Ohioans should take away from the data.
Dr. David Margolius, division director of internal medicine and Dr. Nick Dreher, medical director of the Population Innovation Institute both from MetroHealth shared their biggest takeaways from the increase in cases.
You can watch DeWine's briefing from Thursday in the player below:
This is a developing story. Updates will be provided as they become available.