Norman records 500 plus new COVID-19 cases in highest report since January

Sep. 1—Norman on Wednesday reported its largest increase in new COVID-19 cases since January, recording more than 500 new COVID cases over the last week.

On Wednesday, the city reported 530 new COVID-19 cases, all recorded over the past week. Last Wednesday, the state reported 387 new COVID cases in Norman.

This week's new cases bring Norman's cumulative case count to 16,629.

The state reported two additional COVID-related deaths in the city Wednesday, raising Norman's cumulative COVID-19 death toll to 208. The state's reporting system is investigating deaths from the start of the pandemic until now, and does not release the exact date of a COVID-related death; while the two deaths were reported Wednesday, they did not necessarily occur within the last week.

The health department has reported 15,668 recoveries in the city. There are approximately 753 active cases in the city.

The new case count comes just after Norman Public Schools announced Tuesday evening that the district is "experiencing a rate of COVID-19 growth we did not see last year," and that starting next week, NPS will expect everyone in its buildings to be masked.

"School has only been in session a short time and already it is clear that if we're going to make it through this school year with in-person learning, more has to be done to prevent the spread of COVID-19," NPS Superintendent Nick Migliorino wrote in an email to parents Tuesday night.

County numbers

Cleveland County reported 1,338 new COVID cases over the last week, up over last Wednesday's report of 992 new cases. The 1,338 new cases bring the county's cumulative case count to 37,129.

The state on Wednesday reported seven additional deaths in Cleveland County, though the investigative reporting process makes it unclear exactly when those deaths occurred. The county's COVID-related death toll is now at 472.

There have been 34,764 recoveries reported in the county.

State numbers

The state has recorded a cumulative total of 554,496 COVID-19 cases, 2,538 of them reported Wednesday.

The state's seven-day rolling average for new cases is at 2,796. There are 22,432 active COVID-19 cases across the state.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's provisional death count, there have been 9,199 COVID-related deaths in the state. The state's separate reporting and investigation system has recorded 8,001 COVID-related deaths in Oklahoma.

As of Wednesday, there were 1,477 people hospitalized with COVID-19 across Oklahoma, 413 of them in the ICU. Forty-one of those 1,477 are pediatric hospitalizations.

To schedule a COVID-19 test through Norman Regional Health System, visit the scheduling portal on their website.

Statewide, a total of 1.6 million Oklahomans are fully vaccinated, leaving about half of Oklahoma's adults unvaccinated and at a heightened risk for COVID-19.

To schedule an appointment to get vaccinated, visit vaccinate.oklahoma.gov or a local pharmacy.

Reese Gorman covers politics and COVID-19 for The Transcript; reach him at rgorman@normantranscript.com or @reeseg_3.