The Delaware Public Health District is again reporting four out of five failed critical factors on its first weekly COVID-19 report card of 2022.

The failed factors are new cases of COVID-19 (also known as SARS-CoV-2), new cases in the schools, positivity rate, and percent of intensive care unit patients with coronavirus. The only positive factor is in the percentage of residents who are vaccinated, 71.7%. The critical factors were developed by the CDC to help local agencies provide community guidance.

This week’s critical factors are 950 new cases per 100,000 persons in the past seven days (it was 573 last week); and 127 new cases per 100,000 staff and students in the past seven days (it was 90 last week). The county’s population is more than 200,000. Both of those totals are well over the 50 or less needed for a satisfactory grade. The positivity rate is 26.7%, up more than 10% from last week and above the 8% or less satisfactory mark; and the health care capacity is 25%, unchanged from last week, but greater than the 20% satisfactory mark.

The Ohio Department of Health said Delaware County has the 16th-highest number of cases among the state’s 88 counties, with 33,713 people who have contracted the coronavirus. There have also been 407 residents hospitalized and 198 deaths from the infectious disease. Statewide, there have been 2.1 million cases; 98,277 hospitalizations and 29,674 deaths from COVID-19.

Despite the recent surge, Delaware County continues to lead in percentage of residents who have started the vaccine, 75.5% or 157,973 people. By comparison, next-door Franklin County is at 65% and the state itself is 60%. Delaware County also leads the way in percentage who have completed their shots, 71.3%.

The state’s breakthrough dashboard said 48,399 people who were not fully vaccinated were hospitalized due to COVID-19, and 14,458 of those Ohioans died. In contrast, 2,853 people who were fully vaccinated were hospitalized due to COVID-19, and 701 of them died.

There have been over 56.3 million cases of COVID-19 in the United States, resulting in 825,106 deaths. In the past 30 days, cases have soared. More than half-a-billion vaccines have been administered nationwide, the CDC said.

Johns Hopkins University reports that the U.S. has had 7.6 million cases of the coronavirus in the past 28 days, with 37,113 deaths.

“The coming weeks are going to be challenging,” the White House COVID-19 Response Team said Wednesday morning. “We’re going to see cases continue to rise because Omicron (the variant of the virus that is causing the current surge) is a very transmissible variant.”

However, the team insists, “We have the tools we need to manage this surge in Omicron cases.”