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Health officials urge COVID vaccine as delta variant 'trickles in,' state sees case uptick

Enid News & Eagle - 7/15/2021

Jul. 15—Oklahoma is seeing an increase in the daily number of COVID-19 cases reported as the delta variant creeps into the state from the northeast.

The state saw more than 2,600 cases of COVID-19 in the past week as neighboring states Missouri and Arkansas are facing an outbreak of COVID-19 being mostly driven by the highly contagious delta variant, according to NPR.

Those who are unvaccinated are likely to be impacted the most by the variant, said Maggie Jackson, OSDH regional director of community engagement and health planning who oversees Garfield County Health Department.

In Oklahoma State Department of Health's COVID-19 Risk Level System, seven counties in the moderate, or "orange," risk level are in the northeastern part of the state, bordering Missouri and Arkansas.

"(The variant) is more contagious, so it can spread faster," Jackson said. "We're seeing it come through communities pretty quickly. ... There are people being hospitalized and that have a severe illness, especially like we saw last week in Missouri — it's trickling into northeast Oklahoma, where we're seeing a lot of people going to the hospital."

In Enid, St. Mary's Regional Medical Center and Integris Bass Baptist Health Center each reported two COVID-19-positive patients on Wednesday.

One of the biggest concerns is that a lot of families can easily travel to cities in Missouri and Arkansas for summer vacations, and counties that have lower vaccinations rates will see more COVID-19 cases, Jackson said.

In Garfield County, 19,788 residents over the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated, and the Health Department has distributed 36,462 vaccines, Jackson said.

The chance for a "vaccine breakthrough case" — when a vaccinated person develops the COVID-19 illness — is 0.06%, she added.

"It can happen with any vaccine," she said, "but your chances of having severe illness if you've had a vaccine is significantly lower. ... You don't want to be sick during your holiday."

Although much of Northwest Oklahoma is reporting low increases, Jackson encouraged anybody with COVID-19 symptoms or anyone who may have been exposed to the virus to get tested.

For those who are not vaccinated, Jackson encouraged practicing social distancing and wearing masks to help mitigate the spread as the state increases in the number of COVID-19 cases.

"Everybody's really burnt out on COVID-19 — the health care workers and the public," she said. "We all want to move forward and move on with our lives, but if you haven't had a vaccine, still wear your mask and practice social distancing so we can make sure that this doesn't get worse than it is. ...

"It is not like the flu. This is more contagious and causes more severe illness than the flu. That's why a vaccine is so important," Jackson said. "The news release from Springfield is that they were looking for ventilators again in the middle of the summer. That does not happen in flu season. Hospitalizations from the flu are so rare in the summer, so we know that COVID-19 is worse."

Weekly numbers

Oklahoma gained 2,688 COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths in the past week, according to OSDH on Wednesday.

OSDH showed 463,152 total cases from CDC provisional state data, including 1,082 from Wednesday, and 461,893 total cases with OSDH disease investigation summary. Of the latter number, there were 3,458 active, an increase of 1,134 in the past week. OSDH is no longer reporting recovered cases.

OSDH's weekly numbers — which OSDH acute disease service reports to the CDC — on Wednesday showed Oklahoma has 7,417 confirmed deaths, though 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 8,654 deaths, a weekly increase of 24, in which the coronavirus was the cause or a contributor.

Jackson quote

There have been 190 hospitalizations in the past week, bringing the total to 27,275, and according to OSDH's Situation Update, there is a three-day average of 259 total COVID-19 hospitalizations, an increase of 101 since last week. Of those, 91 are in the ICU, across the state.

Cases in Garfield County increased by 11 in the past week for a total of 7,856, with 12 active and 7,705, or 98.1%, recovered, according to OSDH. The majority of the cases — 6,950, or 88.5% — have been in Enid, which reported 11 active cases and 6,811 recovered.

Of the county's 139 deaths, 128 have been in Enid, according to OSDH city data, with five in Lahoma, one each in Drummond, Fairmont, Garber, Covington and Waukomis, and one not listed by town. Deaths listed by ZIP code on the OSDH website show Enid with 126 deaths.

There have been 3,073 cases, with 3,000 recovered and 68 deaths, from the 73701 ZIP code, primarily the eastern half of Enid, and 3,784 cases, with 3,720 recovered and 58 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.

Other Northwest Oklahoma county case increases in the past week included five in Kingfisher, three in Blaine and one each in Grant, Noble, Woods and Woodward. No cases were reported in Alfalfa and Major counties.

Risk Level System

Garfield County stayed "yellow" this week along with 54 other Oklahoma counties for the Oklahoma State Department of Health's COVID-19 Risk Level System.

According to OSDH's COVID-19 Risk Level System, which is released every Wednesday, 11 of Oklahoma 77 counties are in the moderate, or "orange," risk level; 54 are in the low, or "yellow," risk level and 12 are in the new normal, or "green," risk level.

Last week, there were seven counties in the moderate risk level, 55 counties in the low risk level and 15 in the new normal risk level.

The 11 counties in the "orange" category are Adair, Cimarron, Comanche, Craig, Delaware, Johnston, Mayes, Ottawa, Pushmataha, Rogers and Sequoyah. Seven of these counties are near Oklahoma's northeastern borders with Missouri and Arkansas, two states that are are seeing COVID-19 outbreaks mostly driven by the delta variant, according to NPR.

Garfield County saw green on May 12 for the first time since OSDH began releasing county risk level trends and dipped into the "yellow" risk level on June 23. This week, Garfield County reported 2.3 cases per 100,000.

Of the 18 Northwest Oklahoma counties, Alfalfa, Beaver, Dewey, Harper, Major, Roger Mills and Woodward are in the "green" category; Beckham, Blaine, Custer, Ellis, Garfield, Grant, Kingfisher, Texas, Washita and Woods were in the "yellow" category; and Cimarron was in the "orange" category. Outside of the region, only Caddo, Jefferson, Kiowa, Noble, Pittsburgh and Tillman were in the "green" category.

Epidemiology report

COVID-19 cases saw an increase of 56.7 in the numbers of reported cases compared with the previous week, according to OSDH's Weekly Epidemiology and Surveillance Report, which is released every Wednesday.

From July 4-10, 2,688 cases were reported, an increase of 973 from the week before, June 27 through July 3, which had 1,715. The number of deaths this week was 11, a decrease from previous week, 18.

OSDH reported 33% of the cases were people aged 50 and older, down 1% from previous months, and 95% of the deaths were in that same age group.

COVID-19 patient hospitalizations remained at 5.9% statewide in a week-to-week comparison. Since the first case was confirmed in Oklahoma in March 2020, the number of admissions to state hospitals was at 27,275, according to the report.

Nationally, Oklahoma ranks 9th out of all states and the District of Columbia in the cumulative incidence of reported COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population, going down three spots from 12th last week. The state ranks 26th in the total number of reported COVID-19 cases, the same spot as last week, and 26th in total number of reported COVID-19 deaths, also the same spot as last week.

From July 4-10, 13,211 specimens were tested. Of those, 2,478, or 10.8%, were positive. The death rate for total overall positive cases remained at 1.6%.

From July 6-12, 29,702 vaccine doses were administered in the state, an increase of 4,639 compared with the week before. The total number of vaccines administered was 2,752,622 with 1,320,463 fully vaccinated.

In Garfield County, 46.3% of people 12 and older have received the first dose of the vaccine, and 81.5% of people 65 and older have received theirs.

According to OSDH, 39.8% of people 12 and older in Garfield County have completed the series, along with 73.2% of those 65 and older who have also been fully vaccinated.

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

—Woodward with 3,175 cases, 3,137 recovered, two active and 36 deaths, 27 from Woodward, six from Mooreland, two from Fort Supply and one from Sharon.

—Kingfisher with 2,063 cases, 2,016 recovered, six active and 41 deaths, 21 from Kingfisher, 12 from Hennessey, four from Okarche — which Kingfisher shares with Canadian County — two from Dover and two not listed by town.

—Noble with 1,385 cases, 1,365 recovered, none active and 20 deaths, including 12 from Perry, three from Billings, two from Marland and Red Rock and one from Morrison.

—Woods with 1,221 cases, 1,202 recovered, one active and 18 deaths, 16 from Alva and two not listed by town.

—Alfalfa with 1,156 cases, 1,148 recovered, one active and seven deaths, with city data listing three from Carmen, two each from Aline and Helena and one each from Cherokee and Jet. City data encompasses rural towns that could include those residing in neighboring counties, which could cause the discrepancy.

—Blaine with 1,060 cases, 1,036 recovered, four active and 20 deaths, six 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 956 cases, 932 recovered, none active and 24 deaths, 17 from Fairview, two each from Cleo Springs and Ringwood and three not listed by town.

—Grant with 551 cases, 543 recovered, one active and seven deaths, three from Wakita and one each from Deer Creek, Lamont, Medford and Nash.

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.

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