Three Tulsa County residents were among six COVID-19 deaths reported Friday by the Oklahoma State Department of Health, along with 596 new cases of the illness.
Friday's report represented a third-straight day of declining new cases, but it still made for the state's fourth-highest increase on record. Oklahoma now has 19,092 known cases of COVID-19.
Tulsa County had 135 of the new cases, bringing its total to 4,828.
More than half of the state's new cases were in adults younger than 50. OU Chief COVID Officer Dr. Dale Bratzler said they are more likely than members of other age groups to gather in large numbers without taking precautions like wearing masks, an important measure to prevent the spread of a virus that may trigger just mild symptoms or none at all in up to 45% of people it infects.
"We should mandate masks at this point because we’re seeing such unmitigated spread of the virus in our population in Oklahoma right now. And then, if we see things change down the road, then potentially that can change down the road. It is not a violation of your constitutional rights or your civil liberties," Bratzler said.
According to the state health department, none of the six new deaths reported Friday happened in the past 24 hours. All were adults 65 or older.
COVID-19 has now officially killed 416 Oklahomans. Tulsa County leads the state with 75 deaths.
The state's seven-day average of new cases, a measure of the trend in new infections, hit another high Friday at 575. Tulsa County's rose to a new high of 148.
Hospitalizations from COVID-19 increased by 34 statewide, according to the most recent data. As of Thursday evening, 487 people were hospitalized statewide. Tulsa County hospitals had 103 coronavirus patients.
The steady rise in hospitalizations is concerning to Bratzler.
"You don’t get into the hospital today with mild COVID-19. If you’re in the hospital, you’re usually very sick, and more than half of the patients in Oklahoma that are in the hospital with a confirmed test are in the intensive care unit," Bratzler said.
Hospital bed availability data was not available Friday afternoon.
Over the course of the pandemic, 1,949 Oklahomans have been hospitalized because of COVID-19.
The state health department reported 548 additional patients as recovered from COVID-19, raising that total to 14,648. Patients are considered recovered if they did not die, are not currently hospitalized and it has been at least 14 days since their symptoms began. The state has 4,028 active cases.
In Tulsa County, 140 additional patients are considered to have recovered for a total of 3,757, leaving the county with 996 active cases, a drop of 48 from Wednesday.
Overall, the state's percentage of positive tests rose from 5.1% to 5.2%. Nearly 9% of tests reported Friday were positive.
