T-L File Photo Trooper Stephen Williams of the St. Clairsville post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol prepares to perform traffic enforcement with a radar gun. The patrol will be out in force on New Year’s Eve, which is Thursday, since traffic is expected to be high despite the coronavirus pandemic.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Ohio State Highway Patrol is warning people against drinking and driving on New Year’s Eve this Thursday.

Lt. Maurice Waddell said the COVID-19 pandemic has not significantly reduced traffic or changed driving habits. Waddell did not speculate if traffic volume or drinking and driving would change around the coming holiday or if people will choose to indulge after the lengthy pandemic and social distancing.

“With the curfews and everything, and even though the bars are closing early, I still assume that a lot of people will be going to friends’ and family’s house. We encourage people, if they decide to do that, if they decide to drink, to make arrangements for a designated driver or to stay there for the evening,” he said.

The 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. statewide curfew has been extended to Jan. 2, which is Saturday, so bars are required to close at 10 p.m. Waddell added that patrolmen will be out in force.

“We will have troopers out on federal overtime hours looking for impaired drivers,” he said.

He said from Christmas Eve through Christmas Day, there were no OVI arrests but 11 crashes.

“That’s when we had that snowstorm,” he said. “We didn’t have any serious crashes.”

Waddell said there were eight crashes and one OVI arrest during that same time frame in 2019.

“I would say it’s close to last year,” he said of the pattern. He added the post made 435 total OVI arrests in 2019.

“Which is significantly high, and this year even with the pandemic we’re still sitting at almost 350 OVI arrests this year. I don’t think the pandemic’s changing anything as far as impaired driving,” he said. “People are still going to either drink at home and then drive, or drink at somebody else’s house and drive. We’re just constantly pushing the message, telling people if you decide to drink, designate a driver. It’s not worth the risk.”

He said as far as general traffic is concerned, the Ohio Department of Transportation has determined interstate traffic is down by about 2 percent this year.

“Not very much, considering everything that’s going on,” Waddell said.

The coronavirus pandemic is surging statewide and beyond. In Belmont County there have been 3,536 cases since its onset, with 902 people now in isolation at home with active cases and 38 hospitalized. There have been 2,530 recoveries in the county.

Belmont County Deputy Health Commissioner Robert Sproul reported 66 deaths associated with the virus, with three of those deaths reported Tuesday. The latest victims were a man in his 80s, a woman in her 60s and a man in his 50s with underlying conditions. Sproul’s office continues to vaccinate emergency service personnel.