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Tulsa County Sees Largest Single-Day Increase in COVID-19 Cases

The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported 65 new COVID-19 cases in Tulsa County on Tuesday, the county's biggest one-day increase during the state's now three-month outbreak.

Tulsa County now has 1,261 confirmed cases of COVID-19, second most in the state behind Oklahoma County's 1,404. Tulsa County's previous one-day high in new cases was 45 on April 3 and April 29.

On Friday, the Tulsa Health Department offered free COVID-19 testing at a food distribution event in north Tulsa. They quickly reached capacity there. Fewer tests are processed over the weekends.

The health department reported 158 new coronavirus infections statewide on Monday, bringing Oklahoma's total number of confirmed cases to 7,363. The number of new cases was the highest since May 22 and the fifth-largest one-day increase overall.

Five additional deaths were also reported on Tuesday, one of them in Tulsa County. They happened between April 5 and Sunday. Three people who died were 65 or older, one was between 50 and 64 years old, and one was between 18 and 35 years old.

COVID-19 is known to have killed 353 Oklahomans. The illness has hospitalized 1,061 people, with 148 currently in the hospital.

The health department reported 59 more patients as recovered, bringing the total to 6,073. Patients are considered to have recovered if they did not die, are not currently hospitalized and it has been at least 14 days since their symptoms began.

Symtoms of COVID-19 have been reported to linger for several weeks in some cases.

The state has 937 known, active cases of the illness.

According to the state health department, 235,731 specimens have been tested for COVID-19, giving Oklahoma a positive test rate of 3.1%. World Health Organization guidelines indicate positive test rates of less than 10% reflect adequate testing.

Officials have said supplies are available for any Oklahoman who wants a test to get one. A list of testing sites in each county is available online.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.
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