TOLEDO, Ohio — It's been almost three weeks since the first protests began in Toledo with virtually no social distancing.
The first protest in Toledo started on Saturday, May 30.
Since then, there have been multiple other rallies with dozens and hundreds of people gathered in close proximity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, several of WTOL 11 viewers have expressed concern that protests will cause a spike in coronavirus cases.
Toledo-Lucas County Health Commissioner Eric Zgodzinski says the numbers have so far stayed steady.
"We've been pretty lucky. Our numbers for positive cases in Lucas County have kinda plateaued a little bit. You know were in single digits every day when I look at the numbers. We've had a couple of spikes here and there," Zgodzinski said.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine shared Tuesday the most recent R-naught numbers, which tell the average number of people who will contract a contagious disease from another person with that disease.
"Anything over 1 is a concern because again, one person can start infecting multiple individuals. If it's one to one, its sort of different. There's still a concern but again it's not as great as if its, you can infect 1, 2, 10 other people," Zgodzinski said.
As you can see from this graph below, our region is the lowest in the state with a Point-65 R-naught number.
Still, Zgodzinski says there are future concerns.
"Until we get good data. Until we know that Covid-19, the R-naught is actually 2.2 in its natural environment. We've kept it at bay because of the things that we've done in the last couple of months but as things open, you know what's gonna happen?" Zgodzinski said.
In the past, medical specialists have said it usually takes two to three weeks for coronavirus symptoms to show up. That time for Lucas County would be now, with almost 3 weeks passing by since the first protest.
But the health commissioner says we're not in the clear just yet.
"With some of the things we've done with reopening and you know getting out and going about our new normal lives if you would, so I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see an uptick," Zgodzinski said.