FRIDAY UPDATE: State Case Total Now Over 600,000, Some Key Indicators Falling

COLUMBUS, Ohio (News Talk 1480 WHBC) – The state once again had under 10,000 cases of coronavirus on Friday, reporting nearly 9700 new cases.

That number takes the total of cases reported since the pandemic started to over 600,000.

Stark County had 370 new cases.

Ohio Department of Health
A couple of positive signs on Friday:

The number of actively hospitalized Ohioans fells below 5000 for the first time in two weeks.

And the seven-day average test positivity rate had continued to fall since December 6.

It was at 14.1-percent on Friday.

Here are the Friday numbers:

Fri Dec 18

Ohio: 605,862 cases (+9684),
7967 deaths (+73)

Stark: 17,459 cases (+370),
258 deaths (same)