COLUMBUS, Ohio —Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Health Chief Medical Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff urged all Ohioans — and in light of their number of rising cases, younger Ohioans — to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“Today’s numbers show we have 459 newly reported hospitalizations of people of all ages in the last 24 hours — that’s our highest number since January. Even more startling is that more and more younger Ohioans are being admitted to the hospital for COVID,” said DeWine during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

“The bottom line is that we’re seeing our highest levels ever of hospitalizations among those under 50 years old. The clear difference between these younger Ohioans and older Ohioans is the rate of vaccination.

The number of new hospitalizations for COVID-19 of those under 50, was the highest during of the entire pandemic during the week of Sept. 5th, when Ohio hospitals admitted 398 patients under the age of 50.

During the most recent completed reporting week (Sept. 5-11), 230 Ohioans 39 and younger were admitted to the hospital, which is the highest number of admissions for COVID in this age group during the entire pandemic, even higher than during the winter surge levels when no one was vaccinated, the state reported.

Around 97 percent of patients of all ages in Ohio hospitals today are unvaccinated, the state reports.

Bruce Vanderhoff said, “If you are young and unvaccinated it’s now probably only a question of when, not if, you get COVID-19. When you get COVID-19 without the protection of a vaccine, there is a very real risk you’ll end up in the hospital or the obituary pages. The numbers really tell it all, COVID has changed and is now making younger Ohioans who are not vaccinated very sick.

“Don’t become a statistic when there is a simple, safe, and effective alternative. Go out today and get vaccinated.”