The coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2, shown in purple, infects a cell, colored in green.Courtesy of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Ohio had six cases of the coronavirus in five counties in January, state Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton said Monday.
The state data shows
cases began Jan. 7 and Jan. 26 in Miami County, Jan. 13 in Montgomery, Jan. 18 in Richland, Jan. 20 in Summit and Jan. 27 in Warren.
The state knows of the cases now only because of antibody testing, which will begin ramping up this week.All six cases are considered probable because the people have antibodies, but their cases can never be confirmed, said health department spokeswoman Melanie Amato. The patients were interviewed by their county health departments, who asked them when they felt sick.
The dates listed are their best guesses. There's no way to know whether the patients were asymptomatic for COVID-19 and just had a cold."We rely on the local health department and the person that tested," Amato said. "It's all an interviewing process, when they felt cruddy and when they got it."
One person said they had traveled to California and one to Utah, she said. But health officials don't know if they contracted the virus there. They will likely never know.Acton announced the new, probable cases in the statehouse news briefing Monday.
"We actually have a new date of onset. We have found five cases now when the date of onset of symptoms was in January," Acton said in the statehouse news briefing.
She could not give details when asked at the briefing.
Of the
24,777 cases in Ohio, they range from infants to age 108.
"We will learn more and more about this disease, how long it was here in Ohio, how long it was spreading. as we do more and more testing," Acton said.
Ohio announced its first three cases, all in Cuyahoga County, on March 10. On Feb. 2, the first
coronavirus tests in Ohio came back negative, for two students at Miami University.
Case 1: late November ... contact occurred at backyard barbeque for thanksgiving, FL. By early December, entire block became sick simultaneously; symptoms lasted in subject 1 for 4 weeks (underlying condition: post-surgical patient experiencing mild septicemia BEFORE contact at party). Odd presentation of symptoms that would come and go, with days that felt like recovery, only to relapse.
Case 2 : early January, Case 2, mom of 5, referred to having caught this year's bad cold (which others had had EARLIER, September, October, in town). No underlying conditions, healthy, 2 days in bed, worst cold in 20 years. Follow up with case 2 in March: acknowledges it was c1984, and that all 5 children were sick for half a day later in the week (high vit D/C stopped symptoms immediately).
Case 3: late January, after contact with case 2, case 3 (eldest in sample thus far) sick for 6 weeks (on and off): no underlying conditions, Used O2 (nasal canula) a few times because it felt good, and equipment handy (think O2 / essential oil oxygen bars). Odd presentation of symptoms that would come and go, with days that felt like recovery, only to relapse.
Case 4: March -case 4 reports "finally" got cold going around. Post surgerical patient, seemingly healthy (but presence of specific underlying conditions which contributed to low RBC pre-exposure. case 4 O2 slipped below 80% saturation. Discovered with pulse/ox (finger) measure, after experiencing initial Air hunger, but 15 minutes of O2 (at home, not prescribed by a doc) and O2 immediately recovered. Case 4 describes that without O2, full desat could have happened (drop was quick). 4 weeks to recover fully, no other interventions needed.
From above, we don't need to be concerned, but we do need to educate ourselves. This manifests similar to high altitude sickness.
When I prepare for trips to high altitude, I use 15 drops of liquid chlorophyll (high quality, $$$$) a day to boost production of red blood cells, which in turn helps maintain an O2 of 95%+ (tested) at 9500 ft above sea level. Another high altitude trick (if you live in Peru or Bolivia, etc. you know this), is to chew on the leaf of a superfood (high in vitamins and minerals), you know, the same one that coca cola decocainizes before adding to their product for flavor).