The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported on Tuesday 111 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state's total to 424,999.
Tulsa County had seven of Tuesday's cases. Its total now stands at 71,006, second to Oklahoma County's 80,870.
The state's seven-day average of new cases, which shows the trend in infections, fell from 719 to 684. The record of 4,256 was set Jan. 13.
Tulsa County's seven-day average dropped from 123 to 117. The record is 647, set Jan. 9. Oct. 29 was the last time the seven-day average was below 100.
The state reported 56 deaths as it continues to work through a reporting backlog. Two deaths occurred in February, 24 happened in January and the rest were from as far back as mid-November. Tulsa County had 13 of the deaths reported Tuesday: one woman 50 to 64 years old, and three women and nine men 65 or older.
Since March 18, COVID-19 has officially killed 4,534 Oklahomans, 723 of them Tulsa County residents. The state has reported an average of 43.9 deaths the past seven days, the highest number to date.
There were 468 Oklahomans with positive COVID tests hospitalized on Monday evening, 60 fewer than on Friday. The highest number so far was 1,994 hospitalized on Jan. 5. There were 136 COVID-positive Oklahomans in intensive care units on Monday, 28 fewer than on Friday. 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, 23,999 Oklahomans have been hospitalized for COVID-19.
According to the state health department, Tulsa County had 118 COVID-positive residents hospitalized as of Monday evening, seven more than on Friday. The state's reporting change does not affect regional numbers.
As of Monday, the state reported 15% of adult ICU beds and 16% of medical surgery beds available across all facility types. Also as of Monday, the OKC region dropped to tier one of a four-tier hospital surge plan, meaning less than 15% of patients tested positive for COVID-19 for at least three consecutive days. All of the state's hospital regions are now at tier one.
The state health department reported 269 additional patients as recovered on Tuesday, bringing the total to 407,934. 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 12,531 active cases of COVID-19, 214 fewer than the day before. The record is 43,163, set Jan. 11.
Tulsa County reported 49 additional patients as recovered, bringing the total to 68,834. The county has 1,449 active cases, 55 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 Monday, unchanged from Friday. Out of 16,231 tests reported on Monday, 5.5% 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 Monday, that rate was 12.1%, unchanged from Friday.
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.
