A Kent State University student Regan Raeth, of Hudson, Ohio, has her COVID-19 vaccination administered by Kent State nurse Kristen Barath in Kent, Ohio....AP file photo

February is on pace to have the fewest COVID-19 cases of any month in Ohio since last July, when the delta variant first came to the state.

The significant decline also comes right after Ohio set a record in January for most monthly cases with 504,310.

The omicron variant peaked in January as well as the prior month with December having 325,878 cases — the second most for a month since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic nearly two years ago.

There have been 65,274 COVID-19 cases during the first 21 days of this month. At that pace, February will finish with 87,032 cases.

That would be a 579 percent decline from January.

It would be the fewest monthly COVID-19 cases in Ohio since July, when 17,953 were reported. That was the month when the delta variant emerged and quickly became the dominant strain.

February would be more in line with last August, which had 91,623 reported cases.

It would be less than last September with 193,072 reported cases, October with 131,355 cases and November with 144,890 cases in addition to December and January.

Also, Monday was the second straight day with fewer than 1,000 newly reported COVID-19 cases in Ohio. There were 851 reported on Monday and 899 cases Sunday, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

While a lag in reporting over weekends traditionally makes the number of COVID-19 cases on Sundays and Mondays lower, it’s been more than four months since Ohio had any day with cases under 1,000.

The last time the state had a day below 1,000 was Oct. 4, 2021, (a Sunday) with 941 cases.

Monday’s COVID-19 case number was the lowest for a day since Sept. 27 (a Monday) with 800 cases.

The state also continues to see a decline in its COVID-19 hospitalization rate.

The peak was Jan. 11 with 6,729 COVID-19 hospitalizations. It was at 1,517 Monday, according to Ohio Hospital Association statistics.

dskolnick@vindy.com

dskolnick@tribtoday.com