The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported on Friday 416 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state's total to 434,491.
Tulsa County had 54 of Friday's cases. Its total now stands at 72,223.
The state's seven-day average of new cases, which shows the trend in infections, fell from 447 to 446. The record of 4,256 was set Jan. 13. It has remained under 1,000 since Feb. 19.
Tulsa County's seven-day average held at 55 for a second day. 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 Friday, the CDC counted 7,673 Oklahomans dead from COVID-19, an increase of 29 from Thursday. The CDC places 1,858 of those deaths in Tulsa County, up 69 from last week. County-level data is updated on Wednesdays.
The state is still carrying out its own investigations of COVID-19 deaths. That number is now updated weekly. The state-confirmed total is 4,788, with 761 in Tulsa County.
There were 254 Oklahomans with positive COVID tests hospitalized on Thursday evening, 17 fewer than on Wednesday. The highest number so far was 1,994 hospitalized on Jan. 5. There were 66 COVID-positive Oklahomans in intensive care units on Thursday, five fewer than on Wednesday. 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, 24,865 Oklahomans have been hospitalized for COVID-19.
According to the state health department, Tulsa County had 49 COVID-positive residents hospitalized as of Thursday evening, three fewer than on Wednesday. The state's reporting change does not affect regional numbers.
As of Thursday, the state reported 20% of adult ICU beds and 20% of medical surgery beds available across all facility types. Also as of Thursday, 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. Only the southwest and OKC regions are above 5%.
The state health department reported 578 additional patients as recovered on Thursday, bringing the total to 417,734. 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 11,553 active cases of COVID-19, 19 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.
The state's reported overall positive test rate was 10.8% on Thursday, unchanged the past week. Out of 5,832 tests reported on Thursday, 3.2% 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 Thursday, that rate was 11.7%, unchanged from Wednesday.
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.
There are 15 counties at the orange level on the state's COVID alert map, indicating the highest risk of transmission. That number is down 13 from last week. There are 61 counties, including Tulsa County, at the yellow level, up 13 from last week. Cimarron County is at the green risk level.
Tulsa County's rate of new cases per 100,000 population fell 23.8% since it was last reported, going from 12.2 to 9.3. The highest rate of new cases was in Greer County, which had a new case rate of 70, up 833.3%. The state health department changed its reporting of alert map data from Fridays to Wednesdays. This week's map accounts for two fewer days than usual.
The orange level starts at 14.3 new cases per 100,000. Regardless of transmission rates, counties are not classified at red, the alert map's highest level, unless COVID patients account for 40% of the staffed acute care hospital beds in that county's state hospital region.
Just 19 counties have not yet hit 10% of their population testing positive for the coronavirus. Alfalfa County leads the state with 20.2% of residents testing positive to date. It's the only county so far to break the 20% level.
In Tulsa County, 11.1% of residents have tested positive to date.
