The Ohio Department of Health said the state is seeing a shift in the "historical and record shattering surge" that is fueled by the Omicron variant.

Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said that while some of that state's "first and hardest hit areas," including Northeast Ohio, are seeing signs of improvement that does not mean the state is out of the woods yet.

During a Thursday morning press conference, Vanderhoff noted that statewide hospitalizations reached a pandemic high earlier this month and have been slowly declining the past ten days.

In the Cleveland-area hospitalizations have fallen more than 24% this past week, but he said, the Southwest region of the state reported a 14% increase in ICU admissions and the Western portion of the state reported a 13% increase compared to the week before.

"Despite some encouraging signs, our hospitals remain strained and hospitalizations are still rising in Southern and Western Ohio," said Vanderhoff.

Vanderhoff said one of the most common questions he receives asks if the state has reached it's peak, signaling that an end might be in sight?

"Certainly the signs of a downturn that we are seeing in some parts of the state, especially those that have been so severely impacted by Covid-19, do bring us renewed hope. But the reality is so many other parts of the state are still on the ride of this Omicron title wave," said Vanderhoff.

Vanderhoff says as the surge shifts to other parts of the state, so are the supportive resources.

He said, the Ohio National Guard that had been supporting testing in Akron and Cleveland are being redirected as testing demands decline in those areas. 

This change also comes as other support falls into place in the Northeast Ohio region. Including, a team of 20 U.S. Air Force medical professionals at the Cleveland Clinic, and recent approval from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a medical response team to assist at Summa Hospital in Akron.

Vanderhoof was joined on the call by Dr. Alice Kim at the Cleveland Clinic who continues to stress the majority of hospitalizations are among those who are unvaccinated. 

"We always have to remember we are not out of it yet, we are again very hopeful with the declining numbers but our best armor is really getting vaccinated," said Dr. Kim.

Vanderhoff also discussed the high demand and short supply for rapid, at-home Covid-19 tests.

This month, Ohio ordered 1.2 million testing kits, but he said only a fraction of those tests have been delivered. 

"Once tests become available and the urgent request of our schools are fulfilled, the state plans to resume fulfilling request for these rapid test kits from local health departments and other community partners," said Vanderhoff.

He also encouraged people to place their order through the federal government for four free at-home tests at CovidTests.gov.