COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH/WTRF) — The CDC has outlined new measures to determine where masks should be worn in public, and it represents a change for some counties in the Ohio Valley and most of Ohio.
The guidelines are designed to help limit the spread of COVID-19 as the pandemic winds down while also taking into consideration areas where there is less of a threat to overwhelming hospitals.
A map shows COVID-19 community levels by county, and it does not recommend masks in areas where the threat to hospitals is at a low or medium level — only where the level is high. Masks continue to be recommended everywhere for public transportation.
In Ohio, most of the state is at a low or medium level. Only 15 of the state’s 88 counties are at a high level: a cluster in west-central Ohio and several on or near the Ohio River in the southern and eastern parts of the state.
In the Ohio Valley, these counties are at high transmission, and masks are recommended:
- Harrison
- Jefferson
In the Ohio Valley, these counties are at medium transmission:
- Belmont
- Monroe
- Noble
In central Ohio, these counties are at medium transmission:
- Coshocton
- Crawford
- Delaware
- Fayette
- Franklin
- Guernsey
- Perry
- Pickaway
- Licking
- Marion
- Madison
- Morrow
- Muskingum
- Richland
- Union
In central Ohio, these counties are at low transmission:
- Fairfileld
- Hocking
- Vinton
