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COVID Update: Number Of ICU Patients Drops Below 100, State Adds 88 Deaths From CDC Data

Photo courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration

The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported on Tuesday 270 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state's total to 429,432.

Tulsa County had 60 of Tuesday's cases. Its total now stands at 71,641, second to Oklahoma County's 81,815.

The state's seven-day average of new cases, which shows the trend in infections, rose from 611 to 633. The record of 4,256 was set Jan. 13. It has remained under 1,000 since Feb. 19.

Tulsa County's seven-day average rose from 83 to 91. The record is 647, set Jan. 9. It has remained below 100 since March 4.

The state health department has started reporting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's provisional death count in its daily updates. That count is based on death certificates entered into a vital statistics system and is updated on weekdays. As of Tuesday, the CDC counted 7,307 Oklahomans dead from COVID-19, an increase of 88 from Monday. The CDC places 1,706 of those deaths in Tulsa County. County-level data is updated weekly.

The state is still carrying out its own investigations of COVID-19 deaths. The state reported 167 more confirmed deaths Tuesday, bringing that total to 4,701. Tulsa County had 23 of those deaths, putting its total at 746.

There were 333 Oklahomans with positive COVID tests hospitalized on Monday evening, 34 fewer than on Friday. The highest number so far was 1,994 hospitalized on Jan. 5. There were 91 COVID-positive Oklahomans in intensive care units on Monday, 12 fewer than on Friday. KWGS is basing hospitalization and ICU bed numbers on the total across all types of facilities. The state changed to reporting just acute care hospitals but still gives numbers for focus, rehabilitation and tribal facilities.

Over the course of the pandemic, 24,350 Oklahomans have been hospitalized for COVID-19.

According to the state health department, Tulsa County had 73 COVID-positive residents hospitalized as of Monday evening, five fewer than on Friday. The state's reporting change does not affect regional numbers.

As of Monday, the state reported 15% of adult ICU beds and 17% of medical surgery beds available across all facility types. Also as of Monday, all of the state's hospital regions were at tier one of a four-tier hospital surge plan, meaning less than 15% of patients have tested positive for COVID for at least three consecutive days.

The state health department reported 504 additional patients as recovered on Tuesday, bringing the total to 413,094. 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 11,637 active cases of COVID-19, 401 fewer than the day before. The record is 43,163, set Jan. 11. Despite the change in death reporting, active cases are being reported as total cases less patients considered recovered and deaths confirmed by the state health department.

Tulsa County reported 58 additional patients as recovered, bringing the total to 69,566. The county has 1,329 active cases, 21 fewer than the day before. The record is 6,731, set Jan. 11.

The state's reported overall positive test rate was 11% on Monday, unchanged for a week. Out of 14,690 tests reported on Monday, 3.7% were positive. Each positive test does not necessarily represent a unique individual.

The state used to report 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 Monday, that rate was 12%, unchanged for a week.

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.

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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