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Coronavirus: Area counties remain among state’s highest for occurrences of COVID-19

During Gov. Mike DeWine’s briefing on Friday, he released the latest numbers in terms of high occurrence of cases. Seven Miami Valley counties were in the top 15 in the state including Mercer, as the highest, with nearly 260 cases per 100,000 people.

The latest county alert levels were released Thursday afternoon, with three Miami Valley counties in the “red” Level 3 status for COVID-19 spread.

Butler, Mercer, and Montgomery counties all remained in the Level 3 alert, according to state data.

Logan and Shelby counties dropped into the “yellow” Level 1. The remaining counties in the region were in the “orange” Level 2.

>>RELATED: State health alert levels for COVID-19 cases

The governor and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted talked to an Ohio State professor who led a study into the prevalence of antibodies in the state. The study, conducted in July, showed the prevalence of cases in adults in Ohio are low, but allows for a higher number of people who are susceptible to infection.

Dr. Abigail Norris-Turner said 727 Ohioans participated in the study, with 0.9 percent of those in the study having active COVID-19 cases at the time. The study also found of the survey participants, 1.5 percent had evidence of COVID-19 antibodies.

Norris-Turner said its difficult to take what the study found and apply it to the whole of the state, however the OSU research is similar to findings released in a CDC study released recently.

Other findings in the study found that detectible antibodies are not present three months after infection. Norris-Turner said what this means is still an open question. She suggested other parts of the immune system, that are not being tested or monitored, could be stepping-in and helping prevent re-infection.

Norris-Turner added the study contradicts some earlier research done, mainly in New York, that showed more people were infected than were documented by public health officials. The data shows that the numbers through Ohio’s testing that the active cases are being identified and tracked properly, Norris-Turner said, and advocated for continuing public health measures.

Husted said his takeaway from the survey was the state, and nation needs to reach a herd-immunity and a vaccine will be needed before the pandemic will end.

Things to know Friday:

LATEST STATE DATA:

As of Friday afternoon, there have been at least 156,809 confirmed or probable cases in the state, 4,905 deaths, and 15,688 hospitalizations, according to the Ohio Department of Health. 135,301 people are presumed to have recovered from the virus in the state.

>>Local cases, deaths, presumed recoveries reported to the Ohio Department of Health

Ohio has an estimated population of approximately 11.7 million, census records show.

There have been 3,231,321 people tested for the coronavirus in Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

A total of 16,584 health care workers have tested positive which is about 11 percent of the cases.

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