Gov. DeWine: 98.4% of hospitalized Ohioans in 2021 due to COVID-19 are not fully vaccinated

COLUMBUS — Gov. Mike DeWine urged Ohioans Friday to get vaccinated as he says data shows those getting seriously ill from COVID-19 are nearly all unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated.

His pleas came during his first COVID-19 press conference in weeks and comes as growing concern around the Delta variant mounts from health leaders.

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DeWine was joined by the state’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff.

On Thursday, hospitals around the Dayton area, including Premier Health, Kettering Health and Dayton Children’s Hospital, announced they will be mandating the COVID-19 vaccine for all workers in the coming months.

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The following announcements have been made:

In Ohio 60 percent of all adults 18 and older are vaccinated and 40 percent are not, according to Gov. DeWine. The Governor said we are now divided into two Ohios. One that is vaccinated and well protected from COVID-19 and the other that is unvaccinated and not protected. “It is a very critical time,” DeWine said. “Individual choice is what we are about at this point in the pandemic.”

The state has had 18,662 people in the hospital for COVID-19 since Jan. 1, 2021. Of those, 98.4 percent have been people who are not fully vaccinated. The state will released this data now weekly.

In May, Ohio was seeing less than one percent of COVID-19 cases being the Delta variant. The most recent data the state has from July 4-17 showed that 86.47 percent of the COVID-19 cases were from the Delta variant and that number is believed to be even higher now, DeWine said.

Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said the country is seeing exponential growth of COVID-19 in some areas, including Florida, where a record 21,000 daily cases were reported. Vanderhoff said some hospitals in Florida are facing the challenge of having to postpone some surgeries. “We don’t want that here,” Vanderhoff said.

Vanderhoff said COVID-19 is not the common cold, in fact, he said the Delta variant of the virus is more contagious than the common cold and the flu.

DeWine said the state is seeing increases in vaccination rates in more than 80 of the state’s counties throughout the month of July. “Vaccines are making a difference and that frankly will continue to be where we keep our focus,” DeWine said.

DeWine said local counties have been given permission to use previously provided COVID-19 funding to provide incentives for people to get vaccines.

Vanderhoff said vaccines being mandated for hospital workers serves as “one more vote of confidence” in the vaccines.