Hancock County has been bumped up to level 3, or the ‘red’ level, on the state’s COVID-19 alert map.

Level 3 is defined as very high exposure and spread.

Wood County and Seneca County also flipped over to red in the new map released Thursday.

All of Hancock County’s neighbors are red, except for Wyandot County which is still orange.

State data shows Hancock County has had 1,676 cases of COVID and 32 deaths since the pandemic began. 246 of the cases were active cases.

Findlay City Schools recently switched to a 4-day per week schedule, on October 26th for Kindergarten through 5th grade and on November 2nd for 6th through 12th grades.

The district had said if the county went ‘red’ that they would go back to the hybrid model in which the school year began that placed students in two groups with one group attending school on Monday and Tuesday and the other on Thursday and Friday, with Wednesday being a remote day.

Hancock Public Health issued the following information:

Today, Hancock County has moved to Level 3, or “red” on the Ohio Public Health Advisory System, meaning that risk of COVID-19 transmission is increasing. This change was triggered due to the following factors in Hancock County over the past 7 days: 1) New cases per capita (456.6 cases per 100,000 residents); 2) Sustained increase in new cases of COVID-19; 3) The proportion of cases not in a congregate setting is over 50%; 4) Sustained increase in COVID-19 Emergency Department visits (2.1 average visits on 11/4 to 4.9 on 11/10).

We can reverse the current trend if we all work together to reduce the spread. We should all take a close look at the plans we have put in place to protect our families, our employees, our co-workers, and our community. This will be especially important during the upcoming holiday season as we are all accustomed to getting together with friends and family.