6 central Ohio counties jump to second-highest level on CDC COVID map: What it means for you

As coronavirus cases continue to rise across Ohio due to the highly contagious delta variant, Franklin County and five other counties in central Ohio have jumped to the second-highest level on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID-19 transmission map. 

Franklin, Delaware, Union, Marion, Pickaway, and Licking counties are now the color orange on the map, which equates to substantial community spread. In addition, Fairfield County moved up to high community spread, or the color red. According to the CDC, the data was collected July 25-31. 

New mandates coming?:As COVID-19 surges, officials stress vaccines and masks to avoid new requirements

Last week, the agency recommended that vaccinated and unvaccinated people wear masks in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission. In addition, fully vaccinated people should consider wearing a mask in public indoor settings, regardless of transmission level, if they or someone in their household is immunocompromised or is at increased risk for severe disease, or if someone in their household is unvaccinated. 

What to know about the delta variant

USA TODAY reported that the delta variant is known to be substantially more contagious than other variants – as contagious and deadlier than chicken pox, according to a CDC presentation. Among common infectious diseases, only measles is more contagious.

The presentation shows that those who are vaccinated are three times less likely to catch COVID-19 and 10 times less likely to die from it than those who are unvaccinated. 

Once infected, though, vaccinated people are just as contagious as those without that protection — meaning they need to wear a mask and keep their distance to avoid passing on the virus.

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Cases rising in the Columbus area

In Franklin County, there has been an increase of more than 300 cases in the last week. The county reported 822 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 489 cases and zero deaths. 

Meanwhile, Fairfield County reported 162 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 72 cases and zero deaths. 

Delaware, Licking, Union, Pickaway and Marion counties also reported increases in the past week. 

Statewide, Ohio recorded 857 cases on Sunday. The rising cases in the past week has caused a 60.8% surge. 

COVID numbers in Ohio:See all the statewide stats in these interactive graphs

Ohio ranked 38th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States increased 53.6% from the week before, with 559,334 cases reported.

With 3.51% of the country's population, Ohio had 1.44% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 50 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

USA TODAY reporters Mike Stucka and Karen Weintraub contributed to this story. 

mwalker@dispatch.com

@micah_walker701