WOOSTER Five or so years down the road, kindergarten classes statewide most likely will have a few fewer youngsters starting their educational journey as Ohio reports a drop in births in 2020.
The Ohio Department of Health reports 129,186 births in the state in 2020, which is down more than 5,000 from the 134,560 deliveries in 2019.
Locally, Wayne County has followed that trend, with 2,150 recorded in 2020, down from 2,245 in 2019, according to the Wayne County Health Department.
But, heading south about 20 miles, a few more babies were born in 2020 than in 2019. Holmes County s Health Department shows 669 births in 2020, and 638 in 2019.
The drop statewide, and in Wayne County, could, in some fashion, be related to the year of the pandemic. For a Wooster couple, it was. With plans to grow their family starting in March 2020, Raymond and Geren Cunningham chose caution because of the unknowns about COVID-19.