Public health officials are keeping an eye on the percent of tests coming back positive for flu.
Dr. David Kendrick is the CEO of MyHealth Access Network, a health information sharing network in the state. Kendrick said in 2019 the peak of flu season saw about 25% test positivity, but last year with infection protection measures in place the peak was much lower.
“We had a peak of only 6% of positivity for the flu. Of course continuing through April we had a fairly widespread program of masking and distancing in Oklahoma,” said Kendrick.
Kendrick said Oklahoma hit 6% flu test positivity for 2021 recently, so now he’s waiting to see how things will progress.
“We had a peak of 6% a few days ago. So the question is do we turn the corner and come back down like we did last October? Or do we continue to have a more normal flu season?”
Public health officials have cautionedthat a mix of flu and COVID may create more problems for hospitals this winter.
The COVID-19 test positivity for the state and for Tulsa is at about 11%.