Shifting Resources To Battle COVID: OH National Guard Goes South

CLEVELAND — After helping 25,000 Ohioans find out if they were infected with COVID-19, the Walker Center mass testing site shuttered over the weekend.

Gov. Mike DeWine is moving the Ohio National Guard's support south, away from Cuyahoga, Stark and Summit counties. The Guard's three mass testing sites in those counties — the Walker Center in Cleveland, the Stark County Fairgrounds in Canton, and a drive-thru site in Akron — all closed in the past two weeks.

As of Monday, Ohio is averaging more than 21,000 new COVID-19 cases per day, along with 385 COVID-19 hospitalizations per day. However, both demand for tests and numbers of confirmed cases have dipped in northern Ohio. The surge appears to be moving west and south, according to a Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, director of the Ohio Department of Health.

COVID-19 hospitalizations fell 24 percent in the Cleveland-area during the week of Jan. 15, Vanderhoff noted Thursday. The region's COVID-19 positivity rate has been sliced in half, falling from 34 percent to 17 percent, meaning fewer COVID-19 tests are coming back positive in Cuyahoga County, according to the Cuyahoga County Board of Health.

Meanwhile parts of southern and western Ohio are seeing spikes in new cases and hospitalizations. To address those new concerns, the Guard is now operating two new testing sites in southern Ohio. Here are where those new sites are:

• Cincinnati: (Ethos Laboratories), Crossroads Church East, 4450 Eastgate South Dr.
• Springfield: (Clark County Combined Health District and City of Springfield), 2501 E. High St.

In addition to the two new sites, the Guard is also operating the following testing locations:

• Chillicothe: Adena Regional Medical Center, 272 Hospital Road, Chillicothe.
• Cincinnati: (Ethos Laboratories), Riverbend, 6201 Kellogg Ave., Cincinnati.
• Cincinnati: (Ethos Laboratories), Crossroads Church, 990 Reading Road, Mason.
• Cincinnati: UC Health, 321 Albert Sabin Way, Cincinnati.
• Columbus: (Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center), first floor of the CAS parking garage at 2540 Olentangy River Road, Columbus.
• Dayton: (Premier Health) Miami Valley Hospital, 1 Wyoming St., Dayton.
• Gallipolis: (Holzer) 2881 State Route 160, Gallipolis.
• Jackson: (Holzer) 500 Burlington Road, Jackson.
• Mansfield: Avita Ontario Hospital, 715 Richland Mall, Mansfield.
• Maumee: Lucas County Recreation Center, 2901 Key St., Maumee.
• Montgomery: (Ethos Laboratories), Weller Park, 10021 Weller Road, Montgomery
• Pomeroy: (Holzer) 88 E. Memorial Drive, Pomeroy.
• Springboro: Dayton Children’s Hospital Springboro COVID-19 testing site, 3300 W. Tech Road, Springboro.