COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Department of Health plans to randomly sample Ohio’s population for the coronavirus, which will provide much needed information of how extensive COVID-19 is in the state.
The lack of available tests has stymied officials’ abilities to estimate how many Ohioans have become infected with the illness, which has no available vaccine. State officials have closed schools, restaurants and bars and have ordered Ohioans to stay at home, saying the highly infectious disease is among us.
Yet at this time it’s unknown how pervasive it is.
During Saturday’s daily COVID-19 briefing, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton announced a team will be made up of amateur epidemiologists, equipped with technology, to take on the effort. They’ll start with a random sample of 100 asymptomatic people.
“We’re trying to get a better sense of who’s out there, what’s going on in the general population,” she said.