COLUMBUS, Ohio — Coronavirus deaths in nursing homes continue to make up the vast majority of pandemic fatalities in Ohio, according to the most recent Health Department data.
Wednesday marked at least the fifth week in a row that seven of every 10 COVID-19 deaths have involved long-term care residents, with 1,860 nursing home residents dying since the pandemic began out of a total of 2,611 confirmed or probable deaths, according to the state data. That's a rate of 71%.
At least 40 residents at one long-term care center in Mahoning County have died of COVID-19 since April, The Repository reported earlier this week.
As the deaths continued, the governor ordered teams of National Guard medical personnel into nursing homes to ramp up testing.
Meanwhile, the state said Thursday that jobless claims continue to fall as the state reopens, though the numbers remain high compared to pre-pandemic times.
For the week ending June 13, the state received 32,788 claims, according to the Department of Job and Family Services. That raises the total number of claims during the pandemic to 1.4 million, or more than the total claims for the past three years combined.
The state has paid more than $4.1 billion in unemployment compensation to more than 700,000 people.
Also Thursday, Attorney General Dave Yost accused an Athens County couple of price gouging, alleging they jacked up the price of bottles of hand sanitizer by more than 1,000% in some cases.
