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LISBON -- Sunday marked the two-year anniversary since the first known case of COVID-19 was found in Columbiana County.
Currently, there were only 22 cases found in a week as of Wednesday, a return to a lower number as the county has dropped from the Omicron variant.
Since the beginning of the pandemic there have been 24,322 cases in Columbiana County, which has a population of just over 100,000. It is not known how many of those cases are repeat cases for the same patient.
Sadly, since the county's first death on March 26, 2020, 476 residents in the county have died after testing positive for COVID-19. Beyond numbers, many people have lost loved ones from a virus few thought or knew about before 2020. The state of Ohio also lists 1,060 people hospitalized in Columbiana County due to COVID-19 due to the virus.
This time last year, nearly half of the county residents were getting or awaiting their age group to be called for vaccines which were hoped to stop or at least stem the COVID-19 tide. The Columbiana County Vaccine Complex constructed in 2020 at the county fairgrounds began giving vaccines on Jan. 22, 2021.
To date 48.9 percent of Columbiana County residents have had at least one dose of one of the three vaccines speedily developed in response to the pandemic. Of those 45.2 percent got a second dose. The county has had nearly 23,000 receive an additional dose. Vaccines are still available and starting in late February, the Center for Disease Controls began encouraging some immunocompromised individuals to get a fourth dose.
From the early days of shutting down to flatten the curve, a chart of the past two years looks like the hilly road it has been with three distinct bumps showing then the uptick in numbers from Delta, followed by Omicron.
The Columbiana County Commissioners declared a state of emergency on March 25, 2020, and before the end of that year, on Dec. 12, 2020, the county had seen 5,000 cases. By Jan. 8, 2022, the county had 20,000 cases.
Yet as of Wednesday, the mask mandate for those working at the local health department was officially lifted unless that employee is working directly with a patient.
While no one absolutely knows what is next, a lull in cases and a two-year anniversary is a good point to look at what we have learned and where to go from here.
"Throughout this pandemic it has become clear how strong the sense of community is in Columbiana County," said Laura Fauss, public information officer with the Columbiana County Health Department. "Residents, businesses and community partners have worked together with amazing resolve as we faced these unprecedented challenges together over the past two years. In a time of darkness, this was a light shone brightly, and we should a be proud."
County Health Commissioner Wes Vins points out their staff and their partners learned a lot about working together and that they are capable of making those quick transitions from their current roles in the organization, while not letting the most important work they do go either.
Since 2002, when an emphasis was placed on having a Public Health Emergency Management plan, the health department and county offices have put plans in place in case of emergencies.
"Our staff was able to make those moves seamlessly," Vins said. "This leadership team was able to go from normal, to a heightened crisis response and back to normal. We've done that up and down the department and we appreciate the work with all of our community partners."
At this point, Fauss said they want to encourage residents to take care of those healthy habits they may have let go over the past two years. The county is behind in the number of vaccines being given for other infections. People may have not gone for that cancer screening or regular appointments.
"Public health is our focus every day," Fauss said, "but to succeed in maintaining a healthy community, everyone must be engaged because we are all in this together."