Recent public health data has led the Ohio Department of Health to designate Allen County as being in a Red Alert Level 3 as defined by the Ohio Public Health Advisory System. 

Allen County moves into Red after being in Orange Level 2 since Aug. 13.

The information contained in this Public Health Update describes the alert and the safety measures everyone needs to take to slow the spread of COVID-19.

This update also explains what Allen County residents need to know to comply with current orders of the Director of the Ohio Department of Health. 

At this time, there are no new mandated closures or cancellations – businesses, organizations and individuals are provided information here so they can determine how they can best protect themselves, their fellow residents, and their community. If all safety guidelines cannot be maintained, please reconsider your activity. If people do more than the minimum to act safely, it will benefit everyone. 

Risk Level 3 means 
Allen County is experiencing very high coronavirus exposure and spread of COVID-19, and meet 4 data indicators in the Ohio Public Health Advisory System as of October 22, 2020:

• New cases per capita (345.9 cases per 100,000 residents) *100/100,000 is considered high-incidence by the CDC

• Sustained increase in new cases (15.7 average cases on 10/1 to 32.3 by 10/13) 

• Proportion of cases not in congregate settings, such as long term care facilities, indicating community spread

• Sustained increase in outpatient visits due to COVID-19 symptoms (14.1 average visits on 10/4 to 30.9 on 10/20)

Allen County is experiencing widespread community transmission.  The majority of our cases are due to people interacting in social settings, not from any one large event.  

To date in October there have been 651 newly reported cases of COVID-19, which is already 25% higher than the number for August, 2020 which was previously the highest-incidence month. 

The Ohio Department of Health announced 9 new counties rising to Red Level 3 Alert on Oct. 22, 2020, for a total of 38 counties at Red Level 3.  Northwest Ohio is experiencing some of the highest per capita rates, with 4 area counties listed in the top 5 highest per capita counties in Ohio.

The Ohio Public Health Advisory System is updated every Thursday by the Ohio Department of Health and Governor DeWine’s office. The level a county is placed in is determined by how many risk indicators that county triggers based on that county’s coronavirus case data.