Open the State. Now.

Again, we have Fort's stunning series showing what the OPHAS week to week according to the State's new rules - specifically the 'high incidence' rule (first image).

The Map is now stuck perpetually in red despite all metrics dropping like a rock across the state.

The second image shows what the state would look like if only the number of indicators triggered were taken into account to determine the color of a county. Just look at that. There was a true wave that passed through in November-December.

It went up and now is very clearly receding within about 6-8 weeks. Just like ALL respiratory viruses do, no matter what measures we put in place.

According to their own indicators, 79 counties should be ORANGE right now. Only FOUR would be marked red, and FIVE would officially be yellow right now.

We are now a week out from Christmas, if there were to be an appreciable 'bump,' we would have already begun to see the beginnings of it. It isn't there.

Even ICU bed usage has fully stabilized or dropped significantly with only Region 4 (Columbus and surrounding counties) triggering it. But even that region looks like it may fail to trigger next week.

Will people still catch it? Yes. Will people still get sick from it? Yes. Will some people even die from it? Yes. Now is the time to focus on improving individual health and improve available therapies, and yes, even vaccinations for those at risk.

Those at risk should continue to take sensible precautions (as they always should, every year, during cold and flu season).
But our hospitals will never be overwhelmed by this unless we continue to destroy them in anticipation of an influx that will never happen from COVID-19.

Open the State. NOW. No more excuses!
#InThisTogetherOhio