Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine took four counties off of red-alert Thursday afternoon and added eight, officially warning them of “very high exposure and spread” of COVID-19 within their borders.
The Ohio Department of Health’s public advisory heat map colors counties yellow, orange, red or purple depending on the pervasiveness of the virus, the availability of hospital beds and other factors. Since July 16, about 60% of Ohioans have lived in a “red” county.
Hamilton County is still on the red-list. So is Clermont. Butler County, however, has been downgraded to orange.
The list of counties now colored red is as follows:
- Allen
- Athens
- Clark
- Clermont
- Cuyahoga
- Defiance
- Delaware
- Erie
- Fairfield
- Franklin
- Hamilton
- Hardin
- Henry
- Lawrence
- Licking
- Lucas
- Marion
- Medina
- Montgomery
- Pickaway
- Richland
- Scioto
- Union
The most visible distinction between counties — mandatory masks — would become null at 6 p.m., when the statewide masking order DeWine announced Wednesday was scheduled to go into effect.
