COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. Mike DeWine announced Tuesday that the number of Ohioans hospitalized with COVID-19 could mean the state’s 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. curfew could be loosened or lifted if that trend continues.

However, demand and the large subgroups of people eligible for the vaccine remain in excess of doses available at any one time. Nonetheless, DeWine remains hopeful that progress will continue on all fronts, and specifically that Ohio’s schools will be back in regular session March 1.

This week, vaccination of those 75 years and older began. Also eligible are Ohioans with congenital, early-onset or inherited medical conditions and developmental or intellectual disabilities.

DeWine said Ohio expects to have 146,000 doses delivered weekly. Belmont County has been receiving about 400 per week. Meanwhile, the age range of those eligible will continue to expand by increments of five years, with people 70 and older able to have the shot next week, and those 65 and older the following week.

“We’ll hold right there at 65, because we know that is a very large group, 65 and up,” he said.

Each person who receives a dose must have a second dose in about 29 days.

DeWine said since most of Ohio’s front-line health workers have been vaccinated, more vaccines will become available. Even more doses are available because many nursing home staff have refrained from taking the shot, allowing more than 70,000 additional vaccines to be devoted to older Ohioans in the next two weeks.

“We’re able to put more focus on those who are older Ohioans,” DeWine said. However, in the coming weeks more vaccines will be devoted to adult school staff.

“We continue to have the scarcity of the vaccines. That’s not going to go away in the immediate future,” he said. “What we have to do as we go forward is we balance the … older Ohioans that are gravely at risk. At the same time, we want to allot enough of those vaccines to get our kids in school by March 1.”

Some adult school staff will be vaccinated Thursday in Cincinnati, with the main rollout of educator vaccines beginning Feb. 1. No local counties are on the list to receive vaccines for school employees next week. Belmont County Deputy Health Commissioner Robert Sproul said the state did not explain how it determined which school staff would be vaccinated first.

“Not every school will be able to be started on Feb. 1. We do not have enough vaccine. We have to take it as we get it in, week after week,” DeWine said.

The goal is to make the first shot available in February, and possibly the second shot that month for some. DeWine said every school should know by this Friday when vaccinations are available and from what provider.

DeWine also foresees some hopeful news about the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew. He pointed out the number of people hospitalized with the virus statewide has decreased in the last week or so, to 2,964. This makes six days with fewer than 3,500 hospitalized. After seven days, DeWine will consider extending the curfew to 11 p.m. If the number of those hospitalized goes below 2,500 for seven days, there will be no curfew.

DeWine and Ohio Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff said 2,500 is about three times the average number of Ohioans hospitalized for the flu, which they said is still a strain on hospitals but not as onerous as higher numbers of hospitalized.

DeWine commended the public for taking care in wearing masks. However, the chance of another surge remains, and there is a new and more contagious variant in Ohio that may become dominant in the weeks to come.

“One thing we have learned about this virus is it’s extremely unpredictable. We don’t know where it’s going to go,” DeWine said.

Locally, Sproul reported 4,829 total cases in the county since the pandemic’s onset, with 870 people isolated with active cases and 3,823 recovered. There are 46 people hospitalized, and 90 people have died after being infected. These include two new coronavirus-related deaths reported Tuesday, a woman in her 50s and a man in his 70s, both of whom were in long-term care.