ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Belmont County’s coronavirus-related deaths have nearly doubled in recent weeks, reaching 40 on Monday.

Before fall set in, total COVID-19 deaths had remained steady at 25 since the beginning of summer. But Deputy Health Director Robert Sproul reported four resident deaths on Monday — two men in their 70s, a man in his 80s and a woman in her 90s, all of whom had been residing in nursing homes or hospitalized.

Meanwhile, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine gave a post-Thanksgiving presentation, emphasizing the need to guard against transmission of the virus. He also touched on resources that are available to improve air quality at nursing homes and other sites where more vulnerable people are found.

Sproul said a total of 2,274 Belmont County residents have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic’s onset. There are 998 people isolated at home with active cases and 37 residents who are hospitalized with the illness. There have been 1,199 recoveries so far.

Sproul has received no reports of large gatherings during the Thanksgiving holiday, but his office is waiting to see if the holiday leads to another surge of cases.

During his presentation Monday afternoon, DeWine again spoke with health care workers, with a focus on COVID-19 demands at intensive care units across the state. DeWine said health departments are seeing spread in every county.

Chief Clinical Officer Andy Thomas at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center said the state has more than 5,000 in-patients with COVID-19 compared to less than 1,700 at the start of the month.

“A 200-percent increased just since Nov. 1,” Thomas said. “Nov. 1 was a high point at that point.”

Thomas voiced concerns that many hospitals may have an excess of ICU patients while nurses and doctors may be out sick.

“That’s leaving hospitals with really difficult decisions,” he said. “A third of the patients across the entire state that are in an ICU have COVID. One out of every three patients on a ventilator across the state has COVID. … They’re essentially going to start crowding out other people who need that level of care if we see these numbers continue to rise. … Hospitals are making difficult decisions about delaying care. … Non-emergency, non-urgent care.”

Other health care workers from sites such as Akron General Hospital, Riverside Hospital and the Upper Valley Medical Center stressed the unpredictability of the disease.

“We never really know how somebody’s going to respond to this virus, what their body is going to do,” Stacey Morris COVID unit nurse manager at Akron General Hospital, said. “We’ve got people in their 30s and 40s that have no medical history that do really poorly with this. We wish we knew why.”

Thomas asked the public who might have attended a Thanksgiving gathering to attempt to minimize their contact with others for five to seven days, particularly if the visited an area with a high level of COVID-19.

DeWine added a majority of counties are at Level 3 or red in terms of COVID-19, all counties are high-incidence.

Noting studies that effective ventilation and filtration reduce the spread of COVID-19, DeWine also announced a new program to improve indoor air quality. The project is focused on nursing homes and assisted living centers and adult day centers housing vulnerable segments of the population. Eligible recipients can receive up to $15,000 for improvements and inspections. The program is $20 million.

For more information, visit www.coronavirus.ohio.gov or call 833-427-5634.

DeWine also said the first shipments of a vaccine could be received as early as Dec. 15. Health care workers will be prioritized. More information is expected to be available during DeWine’s Thursday presentation.