Ohio reported a record 4,961 Covid-19 cases Thursday and Governor Mike DeWine warned that community spread was possible statewide.
“It is everywhere, we can’t hide from it, we can’t run from it,” DeWine said in a Thursday press briefing. “We’ve got to face it.”
DeWine said that every county in the state is seeing significant community spread.
The risk of catching this virus in every county is very real,” DeWine said.
Ohio also reached record hospitalization and ICU numbers, with 2,075 Ohio residents hospitalized with the virus, 541 of those in intensive care. Additionally there were 33 additional Covid-19 deaths reported Thursday.
DeWine attributed the rise in community spread of Covid-19 in the midwestern state to social gatherings like weddings, funerals and private parties. He said in-person education did not appear to be contributing to spread, which he attributed to mandated mask use in schools.
Minnesota also reported its highest daily total with 3,956 new cases, bringing the state’s overall total to 164,865. It’s the third day in a row the state has reached a daily high of new cases, according to the US state’s dashboard.
The Minnesota Department of Health also reported 25 new deaths, with 2,555 total deaths since the pandemic began, and 9 days in a row of over 100 hospitalizations per day. The latest charts released by the state’s health department shows a steady rise of hospitalizations.
As the US continues to shatter daily case records, so do states across the nation: Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Utah and Wisconsin are among those that set new daily records for infections on Thursday.