TOLEDO, Ohio — After Thursday's state COVID-19 numbers were released, it appeared we were headed in a positive direction.
Total patients in the hospital, in the ICU and on ventilators were at monthly lows. In fact, hospital patients were slightly above 800 and those on a ventilator had plummeted to 190.
But, this is 2020, and just like our lives, those numbers changed quickly.
The Thursday patient counts were adjusted sharply on Friday. The hospital total was changed to 900, and ICU and ventilator patients also were adjusted upwards.
When we asked the state for an explanation, the health department responded with the following explanation:
"Those numbers come directly from the hospitals. If a hospital does not report by the required daily deadline, they use the census count from the previous day for that facility. So, most likely, the difference is related to latent reporting from one or more facilities."
In addition, new hospitalizations spiked on Friday by 136, the second-highest one-day total since April 22. New hospital admissions have now topped 100 for three straight days. And the number of patients in the ICU and on ventilators increased sharply from earlier in the week.
There were 326 intensive care patients listed on Friday. We were at 290 on Thursday. There were 222 patients on ventilators, nine more than on Sunday.
Reported deaths were 33 on Friday, well below the 21-day average. But deaths tend to climb in the days following higher hospitalizations.
A little more than a week after the state began to loosen social restrictions, the numbers do appear to be climbing across much of the state as medical experts feared.
The incubation period for COVID-19 is anywhere from 2-14 days. The results - good or bad - of the state reopening could begin playing out in the next couple of weeks.