The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported on Thursday 694 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state's total to 430,944.
Tulsa County had 55 of Thursday's cases. Its total now stands at 71,781, second to Oklahoma County's 82,321.
The state's seven-day average of new cases, which shows the trend in infections, fell from 643 to 615. The record of 4,256 was set Jan. 13. It has remained under 1,000 since Feb. 19.
Tulsa County's seven-day average fell from 89 to 79. 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 Thursday, the CDC counted 7,433 Oklahomans dead from COVID-19, an increase of 89 from Wednesday. The CDC places 1,789 of those deaths in Tulsa County, up 83 from last week. County-level data is updated weekly.
The state is still carrying out its own investigations of COVID-19 deaths. The state-confirmed total is currently 4,701, with 746 in Tulsa County.
There were 288 Oklahomans with positive COVID tests hospitalized on Wednesday evening, 27 fewer than on Tuesday. The highest number so far was 1,994 hospitalized on Jan. 5. There were 70 COVID-positive Oklahomans in intensive care units on Wednesday, 15 fewer 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, 24,543 Oklahomans have been hospitalized for COVID-19.
According to the state health department, Tulsa County had 68 COVID-positive residents hospitalized as of Wednesday evening, two fewer than on Tuesday. The state's reporting change does not affect regional numbers.
As of Wednesday, the state reported 16% of adult ICU beds and 16% of medical surgery beds available across all facility types. Also as of Wednesday, 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 646 additional patients as recovered on Thursday, bringing the total to 414,566. 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 11,677 active cases of COVID-19, 48 more 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 86 additional patients as recovered, bringing the total to 69,771. The county has 1,264 active cases, 31 fewer than the day before. The record is 6,731, set Jan. 11.
The state's reported overall positive test rate was 10.9% on Wednesday, unchanged from Tuesday. Out of 14,697 tests reported on Wednesday, 2.2% 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 Wednesday, that rate was 11.9%, unchanged from Tuesday.
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.
