OSDH: Garfield County resident among 19 weekly deaths in state

Apr. 22—ENID, Okla. — Oklahoma reported 1,893 COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths in the past week, including a Garfield County resident, according to Oklahoma State Department of Health on Wednesday.

According to OSDH Situation Update, the state gained 238 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, bringing the total to 445,963.

On its website, OSDH shows 445,963 total cases from CDC provisional state data and 445,649 total cases with OSDH disease investigation summary. Of the latter number, there are 10,122 active, an increase of 92 in the past week, and 428,811 recovered, including 1,782 in the past week.

OSDH released its weekly numbers — which OSDH acute disease service reports to the CDC — on Wednesday. The ADS shows Oklahoma has 6,716 confirmed deaths.

The CDC/NCHS' Provisional Death Count, which is based on death certificates and is OSDH's primary reported number, placed the overall count in Oklahoma at 8,189 deaths in which the coronavirus was the cause or a contributor, an increase of 45 since Tuesday.

Of the cumulative hospitalizations in the state, 203 are currently hospitalized, with 50 in ICU, according to OSDH's Executive Report released Wednesday afternoon.

In Enid, St. Mary's Regional Medical Center reported it had two COVID-19 patients and no new deaths. Integris Bass Baptist Health Center reported Wednesday it had four patients and also no deaths.

Cases in Garfield County increased by 23 in the past week for a total of 7,758, with 165 active and 7,465, or 96.2%, recovered, according to OSDH. The majority of the cases — 6,867, or 88.5% — have been in Enid, which reported 155 active cases and 6,594 recovered.

Of the county's 128 deaths, 118 have been in Enid, according to OSDH city data, with five in Lahoma, one each in Drummond, Fairmont, Garber and Covington and one not listed by town. Deaths listed by ZIP code on the OSDH website has Enid with 116 deaths.

There have been 3,027 cases, with 2,874 recovered and 64 deaths, from the 73701 ZIP code, primarily the eastern half of Enid, and 3,748 cases, with 3,634 recovered and 52 deaths, from 73703, or the western half, according to OSDH data on Wednesday. There were 41 recovered cases in the 73705 ZIP code, listed as Vance Air Force Base.

Weekly case increases in other Northwest Oklahoma counties included eight in Kingfisher, five in Blaine, four in Woodward, and one in Noble. No cases were reported in Alfalfa, Grant, Major and Woods counties, and no deaths were reported in any other county.

Epidemiology Report

According to OSDH's Weekly Epidemiology Report, which is released every Wednesday, COVID-19 cases saw a 49.3% decrease in the numbers of reported cases compared with the previous week.

From April 11-17, 1,893 cases were reported, a decrease of 1,840 from the week before, April 4-11, which had 3,733. The number of deaths this week was 19, nine less than the previous week.

OSDH reported 34% of the cases were people aged 50 and older, and 96% of the deaths were in that same age group.

COVID-19 patient hospitalizations remained at 5.8% statewide in a week-to-week comparison, the same as last week. Since the first case was confirmed in Oklahoma in March 2020, the number of admissions to state hospitals was at 25,694, according to the report. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 hospitalizations from April 11-17 were at 191, according to OSDH.

Nationally, Oklahoma ranks eighth out of all states and the District of Columbia in the cumulative incidence of reported COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population, the same spot as last week. The state ranks 24th in the total number of reported COVID-19 cases, the same as last week, and 26th in total number of reported COVID-19 deaths.

The number of positive cases makes up 10.4% of the 3,856,357 specimens tested in the state, according to OSDH. The death rate for those positive cases is at 1.5%, the same as last week.

From April 11-17, 139,845 vaccine doses were administered in the state, down by 33,702 compared with the week before. The total number of vaccines administered was 2,104,463.

In Garfield County, 33.9% of people 16 and older have received the first dose of the vaccine as of April 19, and 68.3%, of people 65 and older have received theirs.

According to OSDH, 27%% of people 16 and older in Garfield County have completed the series, along with 58.7% of those 65 and older who have also been fully vaccinated.

Maggie Jackson, regional director of community engagement and planning for OSDH, said the vaccination clinic is still giving out around 100 vaccine doses every day.

As the demand for vaccines starts to decrease, though, Jackson said some of the Health Department's focus will switch to answering questions people have about the vaccines and sharing updates and recommendations.

"Our focus up until now has been just the logistics of getting an appointment," Jackson said. "That's really been the bulk of our questions, and, we get lots of direct messages from people on our Facebook page, so we just have done our best to put out information about getting a vaccine, and now we are entering into the phase where we are trying to respond to people's questions."

One of the next steps for the department is its mobile unit, which is already up and running and has been deployed to various events and businesses to provide COVID-19 vaccines, Jackson said.

Risk Level System

This week, three of Oklahoma's 77 counties are in the moderate, or "orange," risk level, 64 are in the low, or "yellow," risk level and 10 are in the new normal, or "green," risk level for the COVID-19 Risk Level System.

Last week, there were 16 counties in the moderate risk level, 54 in the low risk level and seven in the new normal risk level.

The 10 "green" counties are Alfalfa, Custer, Grant, Hughes, Kiowa, Major, Noble, Okfuskee, Washita and Woods.

Only one county, Harper, in the health care system Northwest Region, is in "orange," and 2.2% of beds in the region are COVID-19-positive.

Garfield County, along with Blaine, Kingfisher and Woodward, are all in "yellow" this week, according to OSDH.

Northwest Oklahoma

COVID-19 data per other Northwest Oklahoma counties released Wednesday by OSDH:

—Woodward with 3,145 cases, 3,059 recovered, 53 active and 33 deaths, 24 from Woodward, six from Mooreland, two from Fort Supply and one from Sharon.

—Kingfisher with 2,043 cases, 1,973 recovered, 32 active and 38 deaths, 19 from Kingfisher, 11 from Hennessey, four from Okarche — which Kingfisher shares with Canadian County — two from Dover and two not listed by town.

—Noble with 1,375 cases, 1,315 recovered, 41 active and 19 deaths, including 12 from Perry, two each from Billings, Marland and Red Rock and one from Morrison.

—Woods with 1,204 cases, 1,175 recovered, 12 active and 17 deaths, 15 from Alva and two not listed by town.

—Alfalfa with 1,156 cases, 1,140 recovered, nine active and seven deaths, with city data listing three each from Aline and Carmen, two from Helena and one from Cherokee. City data encompasses rural towns that could include those residing in neighboring counties, which could cause the discrepancy.

—Blaine with 1,038 cases, 982 recovered, 38 active and 18 deaths, five from Okeene, three from Canton and one each from Longdale and Watonga. Seven are listed in Hydro, which Blaine shares with Caddo County, and four in Geary, which Blaine shares with Canadian.

—Major with 954 cases, 914 recovered, 19 active and 21 deaths, 16 from Fairview, two from Cleo Springs, one from Ringwood and two not listed by town.

—Grant with 547 cases, 533 recovered, seven active and seven deaths, three from Wakita and one each from Deer Creek, Lamont, Medford and Nash.

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Kelci McKendrick is police and court reporter for the Enid News & Eagle.

Have a question about this story? Do you see something we missed? Do you have a story idea for Kelci? Send an email to kelcim@enidnews.com.