Coronavirus

As the COVID-19 cases continue to rise, hospitals in Central Ohio are seeing a spike in patients, leading to a shortage in beds and in many cases, staff turnover.

When Central Ohio hospitals reach capacity with an influx of patients in their ERs, they’re allowed to divert ambulances to other nearby hospitals. And when enough hospitals go on diversion, the city goes on what’s called an Emergency Patient Transport Plan. The number of hours Columbus spent on that status has exploded this summer.

In this week's episode of Snollygoster, Ohio's politics podcast from WOSU, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss the effort to send a bill to the statehouse for recreational marijuana.

Ohio State students move back to campus this week, as the university faces another school year marked by COVID-19.

The delta variant has fueled a nationwide surge of COVID cases above 100,000 a day, a 10-fold increase since June. We take your COVID questions on the return of our doctor call-in show.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed course Tuesday, advising that fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors if they live in areas with a significant or high spread of COVID-19. We look at the reason behind the CDC’s reversal, breakout infections and more.

For the first time since 2019, the Ohio State Fair begins Monday. But don’t expect any funnel cakes or carousels. There are no rides or public events scheduled at this year’s fair, after the Ohio Expositions Commission voted in April to make the 2021 event a junior fair.

University Hospitals in Cleveland will begin a clinical trial of a booster shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine this week.

A press release from Mount Carmel’s parent company Trinity Health says they will grant some medical and religious exemptions, but all other holdouts will have their employment terminated if they fail to meet a series of deadlines before the end of the year.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday announced a new, consolidated health order. DeWine joins us to talk COVID numbers, the new messaging and what happens when state lawmakers take over.