Ohio's GOP governor to deploy National Guard to Ohio hospitals as COVID-19 cases supersede 2020 cases with Cleveland and Akron among the targeted cities....Ohio ranks seventh among the states as to the number of COVID-19 cases....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Beginning on Monday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican seeking reelection next year, is deploying 1,050 Ohio National Guard members, including nurses and medical staff, for assistance with ongoing staff shortages across the state in hospitals dealing with increasing COVID-19 cases, particularly in cities in Northeast Ohio like Akron and Cleveland where the problem is  worse than in other Ohio cities.   

Cases in Ohio  supersede the number in 2020 as Ohio joins New York and Maine as states that are among those who have deployed the National Guard to help with increased staffing shortages in the past week. Some 4,723 Ohioans are hospitalized with COVID-19, the highest number since this time last year with 90 percent of those hospitalized are unvaccinated, DeWine said during a press conference in Columbus on Friday.

"Earlier in the pandemic, our concern was about beds, about space," DeWine said. "Today, it is about personnel." 

Also at the press conference the governor encouraged schools to require masks of their students, though he issued no new restrictions statewide, or otherwise.

Ohio ranks seventh among the states with  the most cases with roughly 1.8 million cases and some 28,000 deaths

Statistics relative to the coronavirus pandemic that hit the nation with a vengeance in March of 2020 are bad enough, experts say, not to mention the damage the Delta Variant can bring, as well as the Omicron Variant. Delta is driving the surge in the U.S. with Omicron gaining traction.  Currently there have been some 51 million COVID-19 cases in the US, and  more than 827,000 deaths. Worldwide data is worse with roughly 274 million regular cases and some five million people dead from the vicious disease.  

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.