This report has transitioned from using the target indicators that Governor DeWine and the Ohio Department of Health had previously set to the CDC’s Community Transmission Indicators. The CDC has its own data tracker that is accessible at https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home, which gives a good picture of how the nation as a whole is doing. They also have county tracking information, but as CDC mentions, local reports will be more up-to-date and should be considered more definitive.

Preliminary information suggests that the fourth wave may have peaked in Butler County. It is important that we continue to be vigilant and understand that based on the amount of active cases in Butler County that we are still a community of high transmission and high positivity. There was a sudden increase in the positivity rate this week which appears to be the effect of a swing in testing volume. This is reflected in the data that shows the decrease in cases slowing down after a steep decrease over the past couple of weeks.