As the delta variant of COVID-19 spreads in the state of Ohio, cases continue to rise here.
On Thursday, the Ohio Department of Health said the state hit a rate of 77.4 new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks. For perspective, last week, that number sat at about 46 cases per 100,000.
Earlier this year, Gov. Mike DeWine set a benchmark of 50 cases per 100,000 residents. That is the number the state would have to hit for him to remove all the health orders Ohioans were under due to the pandemic, including the state's mask mandate.
On May 12, DeWine announced he would end the health orders, despite not hitting that benchmark until a few weeks later.
That benchmark was met about two months ago and continued to fall from there until about three weeks ago.
You can see the case numbers per 100,000 residents over the last few weeks broken down by county here.
The highly contagious Delta variant is behind the recent uptick in Ohio's COVID-19 cases, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
On Thursday, the state reported 1,205 new cases of COVID-19. That is nearly double the 21-day average of 631 cases.
The lagging number of COVID-19 vaccinations is also playing a role in the rise in case numbers. Recent numbers show just over 49% of Ohioans have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, compared to roughly 57% of all Americans.
