CLEVELAND, Ohio – Here is our regular roundup of coronavirus facts, figures and numbers regarding Cleveland, Ohio, the United States and the world Feb. 27-March 5, followed by our quotes of the week:
Feb. 27
Ohio reports 1,774 new coronavirus cases and 54 deaths. … Bogside Pub in Willowick receives a citation for improper conduct-disorderly activity after Ohio Investigative Unit agents and Willowick Police Department officers witness social-distancing violations. … Chicago-born comedienne and actress Erica Watson dies due to complications of coronavirus. She was 48.
Feb. 28
The Ohio Department of Health reports the number of confirmed or probable infections has risen to 967,422, up 1,268 since Saturday. Also, 60 deaths are reported, bringing the total to 17,297. … Ohio Investigative Unit agents report that weekend citations for improper conduct-disorderly activity are issued at Northeast Ohio bars: Waterbury Coach House, Lakewood; Harvest Saloon, Strongsville; Rookies Sports Bar & Grill, Parma Heights; Sky Mediterranean, Parma Heights; and Colebrook Lounge, Orwell. The cases will go before the Ohio Liquor Control Commission for potential penalties, fines and suspension or revocation of liquor permits.
March 1
The number of new cases in Ohio increases 1,452 to a total of 968,874 throughout the pandemic. Total deaths stand at 17,346 in the state. … The Cleveland Clinic becomes the second Northeast Ohio health system to announce a clinic to help patients with persistent Covid symptoms that have lingered after the first sign of infection. The reCOVer clinic connects patients with symptoms lasting longer than four weeks with specialists from 18 healthcare areas and other resources. … The federal government has allocated Ohio 448,390 vaccine doses this week, a record, Gov. Mike DeWine says. The allocation includes 96,100 doses of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson, a single-dose shot, as well as first doses of Pfizer and Moderna. … The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics say the United States has reported at least 2,463 cases of coronavirus variants first detected in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil.
March 2
Ohio adds 1,709 cases Tuesday for a total of 970,583. … A new counting protocol announced by the Ohio Department of Health lowers today’s death toll from 17,346 to 16,750. … Sports venues and entertainment centers in Ohio can reopen at reduced capacity, and a 300-person limit for banquet centers will be lifted if other health rules are followed, under new orders issued by DeWine’s administration. … U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (above photo, top left) reveals he was one of the first people in Ohio to get Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine as a participant in a clinical trial. He urges his fellow Ohioans to get the vaccine, which he deems “safe and effective.” Portman says he didn’t know whether he got the actual vaccine or placebo in November. (He was told subsequently he received the vaccine.) More than 39,000 people in the United States, South America, Mexico and South Africa participated in the trial.
March 3
Another 2,022 coronavirus cases are reported in Ohio, bringing the total to 972,605. … Cleveland tallies 40 new cases and two deaths. … The pockets of high rates of new cases has dropped dramatically in Ohio. In Greater Cleveland, only five Zip codes show more than 100 new cases over the last two weeks. By comparison, about half the Zip codes in the seven-county region had 100 or more new cases in two weeks in mid-January. Reports for infections less than two weeks old at that point topped 200 cases in 28 ZIP codes, with a high of 473 in the Painesville area. Current high is in the Mentor ZIP code of 44060, where 127 cases were reported with an onset of symptoms in the last 14 days. … Vaccinated Ohioans are free to visit New York without following the state’s onerous travel restrictions. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (above photo, bottom right) announces vaccinated Americans no longer have to follow the state’s complicated quarantine and testing rules, established to stem the spread of the virus. … Some Catholic bishops are discouraging church members from getting the latest, single-shot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson when alternatives are available. That’s because the bishops have “moral concerns” because of the use of lab-grown cells that descend from cells from the tissue of aborted fetuses in the 1980s. … USA Today reports that as some states roll back mask mandates, large retailers including Kroger, Macy’s, Starbucks, Target and Best Buy are not rolling back theirs.
March 4
DeWine says when Ohio drops to 50 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people for two weeks, all health orders will be eliminated. … The state reports 1,875 cases, bringing Ohio’s total to 974,480. … Ohio reports an increase of 1,156 cases in K-12 students and 477 in staff for the week of Feb. 22. … The number of Level 3 red alert Ohio counties for concern over the coronavirus spread dips to 76. Eleven counties are listed at the more favorable Level 2 orange, and one is at the lowest level of yellow. It’s the sharpest improvement in months to the state’s Covid-alert map. (All of Northeast Ohio remains on red alert.) … The University of Akron will hold four in-person commencement ceremonies May 7-9, with a ceremony for 2020 graduates who missed out on commencement due to the pandemic. Graduation will take place at InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field.
March 5
A mass coronavirus vaccination center is slated to open Wednesday, March 17, at Cleveland State University’s Wolstein Center, with capability to vaccinate 6,000 people a day. DeWine holds a press conference at the center in downtown Cleveland to discuss details of the center, which is supported by the Biden administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.AP
Quotes of the week
• “It is now time to open Texas 100%.” – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who announced his state would be lifting mask mandates and rolling back many health mandates, a day after the Centers for Disease Control warned against complacency as we deal with variants.
• “The last thing, the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, everything’s fine, take off your mask, forget it. It still matters.” – President Joe Biden.
• “We have no time to waste. If we act now, decisively, quickly and boldly, we can finally get ahead of this virus. We can finally get our economy moving again, and the people of this country have suffered far too much for too long. We need to relieve that suffering.” –Biden, calling on the Senate to act in passing a $1.9 trillion Covid-relief bill.
• “These are three highly efficacious vaccines. I can tell you I have been fully vaccinated with one that was available. It was the Moderna. If I were not vaccinated now and I had a choice of getting a J&J vaccine now or waiting for another vaccine, I would take whatever vaccine would be available to me as quickly as possible for the simple reason of what I said a moment ago, we want to get as many people vaccinated as quickly and expeditiously as possible.” – Dr. Anthony Fauci, to CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”
We compile our coronavirus timeline from cleveland.com stories and wire reports. Each Saturday morning, we recap news and stats regarding the virus. Here is the previous coronavirus recap Feb. 20-26.
I am on cleveland.com’s life and culture team and cover food, beer, wine and sports-related topics. If you want to see my stories, here’s a directory on cleveland.com. Bill Wills of WTAM-1100 and I talk food and drink usually at 8:20 a.m. Thursday morning. And tune in at 8:05 a.m. Fridays for “Beer with Bona and Much, Much More” with Munch Bishop on 1350-AM The Gambler. Twitter: @mbona30.