The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported on Friday 867 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state's total to 423,023.
Tulsa County had 135 of Friday's cases. Its total now stands at 70,719, second to Oklahoma County's 80,429.
The state's seven-day average of new cases, which shows the trend in infections, remained at 811. The record of 4,256 was set Jan. 13.
Tulsa County's seven-day average dropped from 181 to 160. The record is 647, set Jan. 9. Oct. 29 was the last time the seven-day average was below 100.
The state reported 18 additional deaths on Friday, with just two happening since Jan. 1. One Tulsa County woman 65 or older was among the deaths reported.
Since March 18, COVID-19 has officially killed 4,320 Oklahomans, 688 of them Tulsa County residents. The state has reported an average of 26.7 deaths the past seven days.
There were 571 Oklahomans with positive COVID tests hospitalized on Thursday evening, 29 more than on Wednesday. The highest number so far was 1,994 hospitalized on Jan. 5. There were 162 COVID-positive Oklahomans in intensive care units on Thursday, five more than on Tuesday. 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, 23,879 Oklahomans have been hospitalized for COVID-19.
According to the state health department, Tulsa County had 117 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 12% of adult ICU beds and 15% of medical surgery beds available across all facility types. Also as of Thursday, the OKC region was at tier two of a four-tier hospital surge plan, meaning 15% to 20% of patients tested positive for COVID-19 for at least three consecutive days. All other regions are at tier one.
The state health department reported 1,057 additional patients as recovered on Friday, bringing the total to 405,367. 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 13,336 active cases of COVID-19, 208 fewer than the day before. The record is 43,163, set Jan. 11.
Tulsa County reported 209 additional patients as recovered, bringing the total to 68,402. The county has 1,629 active cases, 75 fewer than the day before. The record is 6,731, set Jan. 11.
The state's reported overall positive test rate was 11.1% on Thursday, down 0.1 percentage points. Out of 45,525 tests reported on Thursday, 6.2% 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 12.1%, down 0.1 percentage points.
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 48 counties at the orange level on the state's COVID alert map, indicating the highest risk of transmission. That's down 14 from last week. The other 29 counties are at the yellow level.
Tulsa County's rate of new cases per 100,000 population fell 8.6% this week, going from 30.4 to 27.8. The highest rate of new cases was in Cimarron County, which had a new case rate of 307.5, up 2,194.8% from last week. The panhandle county of 2,100 people added 46 cases in the past seven days.
The orange level starts at 14.3 new cases per 100,000. Only Cimarron County has a new case rate over 100.
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 21 counties have not yet hit 10% of their population testing positive for the coronavirus. Alfalfa County leads the state with 20.1% of residents testing positive to date. It's the only county so far to break the 20% level.
