The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported on Thursday 2,357 new cases of COVID-19, the second-highest one-day report to date, bringing the state's total to 144,691.
Tulsa County had 376 of those cases, its third-highest one-day total to date. Its total now stands at 25,746, second to Oklahoma County's 29,230.
The state's seven-day average of new cases, which shows the trend in infections, climbed for an 11th straight reporting day, jumping from 2,258 to 2,417. It's the seventh day in a row the state has set a new high in the seven-day average. The average has risen 1,396 over the past 11 reporting days. Since Sept. 19, the seven-day average has been below 1,000 just two days.
KWGS has reached out to the Tulsa Health Department to clarify how it is calculating its seven-day average since the state health department announced a daily reporting change. Based on daily case counts on the THD online dashboard, it would be 342. The same dashboard, however, shows a seven-day average of 299. Either is the highest Tulsa County's seven-day average of new cases has ever been.
The state reported 11 deaths, with none in the past 24 hours and none in Tulsa County. Two men between 50 and 64 years old were reported dead, along with nine adults 65 or older. Since March 18, COVID-19 has officially killed 1,481 Oklahomans, 231 of them in Tulsa County.
The state did not release updated hospital counts on Wednesday evening, citing the Veterans Day holiday. There were 1,248 Oklahomans hospitalized for COVID-19 on Tuesday evening, 146 more than on Monday and a new record for the second straight day. Of those hospitalized Tuesday, 1,157 had positive coronavirus tests. Overall, 340 Oklahomans hospitalized for COVID-19 were in intensive care units, six more than on Monday.
According to the state health department, Tulsa County had 291 residents hospitalized as of Tuesday evening, 33 more than on Monday.
Over the course of the pandemic, 10,030 Oklahomans have been hospitalized for COVID-19.
As of Wednesday, the state reported 5% of its adult ICU beds and 11% of its medical surgery beds were available.
The state health department reported 1,282 additional patients as recovered on Thursday, bringing the total to 119,144. 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. Symptoms have been reported to linger for several weeks for some individuals.
The state has 22,784 active cases of COVID-19, 1,064 more than the day before and another new record.
Tulsa County reported 199 additional patients as recovered, bringing the total to 22,072. The county has 3,443 active cases, 177 more than the day before and a new record for the third straight day.
The state did not report testing data on Wednesday evening, citing the Veterans Day holiday. The state's reported overall positive test rate remained at 8.6% on Tuesday. Out of 13,104 tests reported on Tuesday, 2.9% were positive. Each positive test does not necessarily represent a unique individual.
The state also reports its cumulative positive test rate, a metric used by Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. It is calculated by dividing the number of cases by the number of negative tests plus the number of cases. As of Tuesday, that rate was 8.0%, unchanged from Monday.
Johns Hopkins uses the different rate to compare states that may track testing differently. It notes the ideal way to calculate the positivity rate is dividing the number of people who test positive by the number of people who are tested, which is how Oklahoma's overall rate is calculated.
The World Health Organization's benchmark indicating adequate testing is a 5% positive test rate.
