During a monthly teleupdate to county officials on Tuesday, the outgoing Wood County health commissioner
said guidance from the governor on fall sports and other coronavirus issues is expected soon.
Ben Batey, who recently became chief health officer at Bowling Green State University, said Gov. Mike
DeWine has taken proactive steps to try to reduce the spread of the virus.
This includes cutting off alcohol sales at bars and restaurants at 10 p.m. and mandating masks, Batey
said.
In Wood County, active cases are trending up on the weekends with approximately 15 new positive cases a
day. Although, Batey said, the numbers were not so high this past weekend.
“We’ll have to see if it was a one-time blip,” he said. “These are the things we’re watching out for and
monitoring and using to make decisions as we approach the fall.”
As of Monday, Wood County has had 924 coronavirus cases, including confirmed and probable. There were 883
on Friday.
There were 135 active cases, as of Monday. This is down from 143 on Friday. (Tuesday’s statistics are on
page 2.)
Wood County has been hovering between orange, a level 2, and red, a level 3, in the state alerts, Batey
said.
“It will be interesting to see what this week holds for us,” he said.
The state is now making counties an automatic level 3 if they have 100 cases per 100,000 population.
“That’s another change in the system,” Batey said.
That level will be mandated, even if hospitalizations and deaths are low, he said.
Deaths in Wood County held at 51 “for quite some time,” then increased to 54, then 58, Batey said.
“We kind of see them come in waves, to some extent,” he said, adding that there are peaks and valleys
with cases, and also hospitalizations and deaths.
Wood County Hospital only has a handful of COVID-19 cases, Batey said.
“They still have great capacity, they haven’t been seeing massive cases.”
Wood County spent two weeks in July at the level 3 red alert, before being downgraded to a level 2.
DeWine announces the levels on Thursdays.
The level 3, which has four-five indicators triggered, is a public emergency, according to Ohio’s alert
systems. There are four levels, with level 4 being a public emergency when people should only leave home
for supplies and services.
Level 3 means there is very high exposure and spread. The public is advised to limit activities as much
as possible and follow all current health orders.
Batey asked county officials who were listening Tuesday to be extra aware of permits being requested for
fall gatherings.
“There’s going to be some new guidance coming out from the state,” he said.
Large gatherings are still restricted to 10. Concerts, fairs and festivals are still not allowed, Batey
said.
There are some exceptions, such as wedding receptions, which are allowed for up to 300 people with
appropriate spacing.
He urged officials who get permit requests to confer with their law directors.
Batey has also been meeting with school district representatives and is seeing a lot of different
opinions and scenarios for the fall.
“We’re trying to be flexible and work with the school district,” he said.