ST. CLAIRSVILLE — New coronavirus cases are rising across Ohio, and Belmont County is no exception.

On Wednesday, Belmont County Deputy Health Director Robert Sproul said although Eastern Ohio has long been designated a relatively low-risk area with a low level of spread, that could change soon.

Sproul gave his weekly report to the Belmont County Board of Commissioners, saying that out of the state’s 88 counties, only Belmont, Hocking, Harrison, Ashtabula, Huron and Meigs counties have not yet been designated as having a high incidence of spread.

“It won’t be long,” he said. “I don’t know how much longer we’ll stay in that category. You can see the other 82 counties are listed as high-incidence.”

Recently, Belmont County was raised from a low-risk yellow, or Level 1, on the Ohio Public Health Advisory System to orange, or Level 2, indicating a higher risk of transmission. Nearby Jefferson County is also orange on the color-coded map. Monroe and Harrison remain yellow.

Many other counties, including Noble and Guernsey, have increased to red, or Level 3. Level 4 is the highest level and is represented by purple on the map, but so far no Ohio counties have received that designation.

“I think there are two or three counties that are potentially going to go purple,” Sproul said.

The system and it map are updated weekly on Thursdays, so local counties’ status could change today.

Commissioner J.P. Dutton said Putnam County, another rural area, currently has the highest rate of spread in the state.

“They’re spreading 10 times where we are,” Dutton said.

Sproul reported that 898 positive cases have been identified among county residents since the start of the pandemic, with 730 recoveries. The number of people isolated with active cases of the virus passed 100 at the start of the week and is now at 135.

“We’ve had a little bit of an uptick,” Sproul said.

The number of residents hospitalized with the virus has increased from seven to eight Wednesday, having gone from six to seven on Tuesday. Sproul said the latest person hospitalized is a man with children who are in high school. Sproul said the children are well.

All together, 25 residents have died after being infected with COVID-19.

Sproul said he also hopes to see an increase in recoveries soon.

His office is also looking for another contact tracer to help meet the demand that grows with every new case.

“The majority of the ones we’re talking to, they’re not sure where they got it from, and the other ones are getting it from contact with a positive,” Sproul said. “The majority are community spread. People we’re talking to are not sure where they got it from.

“My contact tracers are still reaching out to a lot of people and trying to get some of the details,” he said.

Sproul described a conference call Tuesday, which raised other concerns such as increased hospitalizations statewide.

“We’re going the wrong way,” Sproul said, adding that he hopes there are no more restrictions but that may be possible. “They’re very worried about the numbers.”

He said the fall and winter seasons will lead to more people remaining indoors and in close proximity to one another, which could increase the rate of spread.

Meanwhile, COVID-related restrictions continue to weigh on many.

“People have tried to comply with masks, social distancing … businesses shutting down,” Commissioner Josh Meyer said, asking what the state’s ultimate answer will be. “People are getting very frustrated.”

“That’s the question,” Sproul said, adding that more people are ignoring mask requirements and attending gatherings.

“Also the thing that worries me is our hospital rate increase. Is that going to then load up our hospitals, and people have other cases that can’t be seen?” Sproul said.

“There are some concerns out there that this may never end,” Meyer said.