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Richland County now Ohio's only Level 4 'purple' county; every county still considered high incidence for COVID-19

As of Thursday, Richland County is the only county in Ohio to currently have a Level 4 'purple' risk level for the coronavirus.

Editor's note: the video in the player above is from Dec. 16, 2020.

Last week, five counties in Ohio were labeled with a Level 4 'purple' coronavirus (COVID-19) risk level according to the state's Public Health Advisory System.

RELATED: More coronavirus coverage from WKYC

But while, as of Thursday, only one county -- Richland County -- in the state still carries that designation, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine warned that there's currently only so much you can read into the state's system.

According to Gov. DeWine, because the Ohio Public Health Advisory system is based on trends, that means that a country dropping from Level 4 "purple" to Level 3 "red" doesn't necessarily indicate that its coronavirus numbers have improved. Rather, a county could drop levels by seeing its numbers plateau or by not increasing enough to maintain the Level 4 "purple" designation.

To further illustrate his point, Gov. DeWine noted that every county in the state's coronavirus numbers are currently at least three times the number that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers to be "high incidence." The 20 counties in the state with the highest occurrence are currently 9-13 times higher than what the CDC currently considers to be "high incidence."

In addition to Richland County being labeled as Level 4 "purple," Miami County has been added to the watch list for Level 4. In order to be labeled with a Level 4 designation, a county must reach six of the seven necessary indicators for two consecutive weeks.

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