SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 2021
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COVID numbers remain in single digits By JD LONG
jim@harrisonnewsherald.com CADIZ – For the third consecutive week COVID cases, though rising by a mere four from last week, remained in single digits when Harrison County Health Administrator Garen Rhome reported nine since last week. Total cases for the county have now reached 1,040, which is up from last week’s 1,031. Presumed recovered is up 10 from last week to 1,010 and active cases stand at six, which is only one more than last week. Rhome said over 300 new first doses of
the vaccine have been administered since last week and another 200 second doses as well. This coming Friday they expect to administer around 200 first and second doses of the vaccine with an additional 80 on Tuesday. Regarding eligibility, he said 40 yearolds and older are up to bat including people with “expanded medical conditions.” And beginning Monday (March 29) “every adult Ohioan over the age of sixteen” is now eligible for the vaccine. He said this was regardless of occupation or medical condition. The public can get started on registering for the vaccine at: gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov. You
type in a zip code and get a list of providers that are near you. The percentages of people receiving the vaccine in the county by age group show that the largest group is the 80 year olds and up at more than 67 percent. Next is 70 to 74 at nearly 67 percent and 75 to 79 year olds at 57 percent. The most having received the vaccine is the 65 to 69 age group, at 612 people. Asked about variants to COVID-19 that have been breaking out, Rhome provided some information from the CDC on that as well. In Ohio, 34 counties have now reported some variant, which is up from 18 cases just one week ago. “The variant now is in 14 of the state’s
15 counties with at least 200,000 residents,” according to the information provided. Those counties are Butler, Clermont, Columbiana, Crawford, Delaware, Erie, Fairfield, Fayette, Knox, Lake, Lucas, Marion, Mercer, Richland, Trumbull and Washington. The variant is called B.1.1.7 and is said to spread “more easily, dodge some treatments and immunities or both.” What remains interesting is that there is very little to no drop in fatality ratio, at least in the three states of the Ohio Valley. Ohio and West Virginia remained at 1.8 percent. The world level (2.2) and the United States (1.8) also remained the same with only Pennsylvania improving
by just one-tenth from 2.5 percent to 2.4. Rhome was also asked about Lyme disease and said he would provide more information at next week’s meeting. Usually, the talk runs in April or May when people are bitten because they don’t usually feel the effects until around July. “It takes that long before you start feeling bad,” Rhome explained. He said they are seeing an increase in cases here in eastern Ohio, and Harrison County in particular. He said eastern Ohio is in the “frontier” of the disease spreading west as it’s moved from the Ohio River where it had once stalled, but now is moving further west.
Fire destroys Scio Tire By JD LONG
jim@harrisonnewsherald.com
SCIO – An early Tuesday morning fire completely destroyed the tire shop at Scio Tire where scores of local fire departments converged on the Ohio 9 property. The fire occurred sometime after 1 a.m. and roared on for hours inside the metal building. No injuries were reported as no one was inside the building at the time. The call came in at 1:24 a.m. and there has been no speculation into the cause and Scio Fire Chief Roger Bethel said the fire would be an undetermined one. “Can’t do an investigation,” he said because the building had been torn apart in order to get to the fire. He said when they arrived the fire was “fully involved.” The roof had collapsed and with so much being destroyed there was no way to conduct that investigation. Anything was possible including arson but he said it wasn’t likely. “I want to thank all the departments who assisted on it,”
Bethel said this week. “It was a big hot fire but everyone did a good job.” Scio Tire’s Facebook page released a statement confirming no injuries and thanking the numerous first responders. “We will be closed until further notice due to a fire that occurred at our shop last night. We have put a lot of time and energy into building this business and seeing it go up in flames last night was extremely devastating. To us it’s not just a tire shop, it’s being a part of this community, it’s serving our customers and friends, and it’s our way of living,” the statement read. The departments who responded were listed as: Scio, Jewett, Hopedale, Bowerston, Loudon twp (Kilgore), Perrysville, Tappan. “The cause of the fire was inconclusive and we won’t be able to answer any questions on how it was started,” the statement continued. “We will rebuild and be stronger for this. Thank you all for your loyal support and we look forward to seeing you once we reopen.”
Pictured left to right is Auxiliary Treasurer, Pat Eberhart; HC Administrator Tony Martinelli; Auxiliary Vice President Joyce Klingler, and Auxiliary member Nan Mattern.
HC Hospital presents ‘thank you’ card to Auxiliary On Thursday, Harrison Community Hospital presented a thank-you card to the Auxiliary for its generous Christmas gift made last year to all of the employees. Each HCH employee received a $20 gift certificate to the hospital cafeteria. It was a way for the Auxiliary to show its appreciation to the employees who
worked during the pandemic, and who supported the gift shop during its brief reopening. This was a win-win for the employees as well as the dietary department as the cafeteria lost revenue during the pandemic by being closed to the public and unable to cater to outside organizations.
“Our Auxiliary has always been generous to the employees at Christmas time,” Tony Martinelli, HCH administrator, said. “We’ve received turkeys from the local grocery stores and/or gift certificates toward the purchase of food items for Christmas. We are grateful for everything the hard-working Auxiliary does for us.”
Cadiz village admin announces retirement CADIZ – The village of Cadiz will now be looking for a new village administrator as Ted Andrzejewski announced at last week’s meeting that he would be retiring effective May 1. Andrzejewski read a short and prepared statement saying it was the right time in his life. “There comes a time in a person’s life when they know it’s time to call it a career and I’ve come to that time in my
life,” he began then adding that he is preparing for a smooth transition and would help in appointing a new administrator if needed. “But for everybody to know, I really have enjoyed my two years here in the village of Cadiz,” he told council and said after 68 years of age he’s been working since the age of 16 and said it was time. “I want to thank everyone in the village that I’ve had the pleasure of working with and best of luck to
everyone.” Council Members Terry Capers and Dan Ossman thanked Andrzejewski him for his time and everything he’s done for the village. Mayor John Migliore also wished him well. Prior to his announcement Andrzejewski covered his report announcing his meeting with Huff Contracting concerning their work with the new Domino’s Pizza building
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By JD LONG
A Tuesday fire in the early morning hours tore apart the Scio Tire shop and left a rubble of mangled steel. Fire Chief Roger Bethel said the fire would remain undetermined, as too much damage to the building would prevent a thorough examination. The roof had collapsed by the time fire fighters had even gotten to the scene.
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