(11-5-20) The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) reports a COVID-19 incidence rate of 728 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks. Mercer County is seeing the largest surge in confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the virus was first detected in the county more than seven months ago.
| Monthly COVID-19 Stats: Month | Number of Confirmed Cases |
| March (First case on 3/24) | 5 cases |
| April | 19 cases |
| May | 190 cases |
| June | 56 cases |
| July | 239 cases |
| August | 295 cases |
| September | 283 cases |
| October | 539 cases |
| November – present | 193 cases |
Because the Mercer County Health District (MCHD) staff is unable to keep up with the large number of cases being reported each day, Mercer County Medical Reserve Corps volunteers who have assisted with contact tracing for several months are now being reassigned to handle positive case interviews. When these interviews lead to the identification of people who may have been exposed, each of those people will be sent a quarantine letter, but they may not be contacted directly by MCHD during their quarantine period.
MCHD asks that anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 be sure to stay at home and isolate from others to avoid exposure.
Everyone who tests positive for COVID-19 will be contacted by MCHD, but this may take several days due to the abundance of cases.
The number of Mercer County residents who are hospitalized with COVID-19 has increased drastically. One of the goals of community efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 is to help prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed so that they have the capacity to treat people with other serious health problems. Although area hospitals are operating closer to capacity than they normally do, the large hospitals are still able to accept transfers at this time.
Yesterday the 30th death from COVID-19 in Mercer County was a 94 year-old male from Rockford.
Mercer County Outlook 