The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported 438,364 total cases in the state on Wednesday, an increase of 2,229 over the past week.
Tulsa County data is now being updated on a weekly basis, with numbers reflecting the previous Sunday through Saturday. At last count, Tulsa County had 72,684 cases, up 309 over the past week. Tulsa County's total is second to Oklahoma County's 83,647.
The state's seven-day average of new cases, which shows the trend in infections, was 318 as of Wednesday, down 14.9% over the past week. The record of 4,256 was set Jan. 13. It has remained under 500 since March 17.
Tulsa County's seven-day average climbed from 40 to 44 over the past week. The record is 647, set Jan. 9. It has remained below 100 since March 4.
The state health department reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's provisional death count in its updates. That count is based on death certificates entered into a vital statistics system and is updated on weekdays. As of Wednesday, the CDC counted 7,873 Oklahomans dead from COVID-19, an increase of 146 over the past week. The CDC places 1,924 of those deaths in Tulsa County, up 35 from last week. County-level data is updated on Wednesdays.
The state is still carrying out its own investigations of COVID-19 deaths and updates that number weekly. The state-confirmed total is 4,953, with 792 in Tulsa County.
The state health department reports nearly 1.9 million total doses of vaccines have been administered, with 212,761 given in the past week. More than 595,000 Oklahomans have now completed a vaccination series.
There were 215 Oklahomans with positive COVID tests hospitalized on Tuesday evening, the latest data available, a decrease of 25 from the same time last week. The highest number so far was 1,994 hospitalized on Jan. 5. There were 60 COVID-positive Oklahomans in intensive care units on Tuesday, six more than at the same time last week. 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, 25,141 Oklahomans have been hospitalized for COVID-19.
According to the state health department, Tulsa County had 34 COVID-positive residents hospitalized as of Tuesday evening, down five from the same time last week. The state's reporting change does not affect regional numbers.
As of Tuesday, the state reported 14% of adult ICU beds and 16% of medical surgery beds available across all facility types. Also as of Tuesday, 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 OKC region is above 5%.
The state reported 10,675 active cases of COVID-19 in a Tuesday evening report, down 415 over the past week. 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 10.5% on Tuesday, down 0.1 percentage points from the same time last week. Over the past week, 2.5% of 61,321 reported tests were positive, down 0.8 percentage points from the week before. Each positive test does not necessarily represent a unique individual.
The World Health Organization's benchmark indicating adequate testing is a 5% positive test rate.
There are 10 counties at the orange level on the state's COVID alert map, indicating the highest risk of transmission. That number is down two from last week. There are 60 counties, including Tulsa County, at the yellow level, up one from last week. Adair, Harper, Johnston, Latimer, Major, Noble and Roger Mills counties are at the green risk level, two more than last week.
Tulsa County's rate of new cases per 100,000 population fell 18.3% since it was last reported, going from 8.2 to 6.7. The highest rate of new cases was in Cimarron County, which had a new case rate of 40.1, up from 0 the week before. The state health department changed its reporting of alert map data from Fridays to Wednesdays.
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 17 counties have not yet hit 10% of their population testing positive for the coronavirus. Alfalfa County leads the state with 20.3% 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, a higher proportion than in Oklahoma County.
