After weeks of declining cases, there’s been an increase in the number of active COVID cases in Hancock County.

The latest data released on Thursday by Hancock Public Health shows that there are 73 active cases in the county, an increase of 15 from last week.

Three people were hospitalized with the virus on Thursday, which is an increase of two from last week.

The number of deaths went up to 121, an increase of five from last week.

Those five deaths are not new deaths. They are from last year when more than 4,000 statewide deaths went underreported.

In February, state health officials said human error was to blame in that underreporting and a state employee resigned.

Ohio’s COVID-19 vaccination dashboard shows that more than 2.1 million Ohioans have received at least one dose of the vaccine so far, which is around 18 percent of the state’s population.

The dashboard shows that more than 13,000 people in Hancock County have received at least one dose of the vaccine, which is around 17 percent of the population.

A COVID vaccine clinic was held at 50 North on Thursday in which 600 people received the vaccine. (video below)

A large vaccine clinic is scheduled for Saturday at the University of Findlay.