Carter County's COVID-19 cases fall 14.3%; Oklahoma cases surge 29.8%

Mike Stucka
·3 min read

New coronavirus cases leaped in Oklahoma in the week ending Sunday, rising 29.8% as 5,869 cases were reported. The previous week had 4,522 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Oklahoma ranked 33rd among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States increased 15.5% from the week before, with 646,627 cases reported. With 1.19% of the country's population, Oklahoma had 0.91% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 39 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

Oklahoma in mid-November stopped reporting county-level deaths entirely and discontinued reporting deaths altogether on the dashboard. Johns Hopkins University began getting death data from a different Oklahoma source — "CDC Provisional Deaths Mentioning COVID-19" — but those numbers are substantially different, creating a temporary spike that will make week-to-week comparisons inaccurate.

Carter County reported 72 cases in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 84 cases. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 9,238 cases.

Oklahoma does not directly publish county-level death data.

Within Oklahoma, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Major County with 472 cases per 100,000 per week; Harper County with 380; and Kay County with 377. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.

Adding the most new cases overall were Oklahoma County, with 996 cases; Tulsa County, with 981 cases; and Cleveland County, with 403. Weekly case counts rose in 47 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Oklahoma, Stephens and Le Flore counties.

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Oklahoma ranked 33rd among states in share of people receiving at least one shot, with 61.5% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 68.8%, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most used in the United States, require two doses administered a few weeks apart.

In the week ending Thursday, Oklahoma reported administering another 116,017 vaccine doses, including 42,804 first doses. In the previous week, the state administered 76,899 vaccine doses, including 24,494 first doses. In all, Oklahoma reported it has administered 4,737,575 total doses.

Across Oklahoma, cases fell in 27 counties, with the best declines in Cleveland County, with 403 cases from 486 a week earlier; in Payne County, with 76 cases from 110; and in Logan County, with 48 cases from 67.

In Oklahoma, 139 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 754 people were reported dead.

A total of 658,600 people in Oklahoma have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 11,772 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 47,730,591 people have tested positive and 771,118 people have died.

Explore the map: Track coronavirus cases across the United States

Oklahoma's COVID-19 hospital admissions falling

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Nov. 21.

Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

  • Last week: 1,170

  • The week before that: 1,258

  • Four weeks ago: 1,332

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

  • Last week: 76,370

  • The week before that: 71,101

  • Four weeks ago: 72,732

Hospitals in 36 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 27 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 34 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Ardmoreite: Carter County COVID update: Cases increased by 72 this week