OSDH: 2 Enid residents among 46 virus-related deaths; Garfield County moves to green

May 12—ENID, Okla. — Two Enid residents were among 46 COVID-19-related deaths reported in the past week by the Oklahoma State Department of Health on Wednesday as Garfield County moved into the new normal, or "green," risk level for the COVID-19 Risk Level System.

OSDH's weekly numbers — which OSDH acute disease service reports to the CDC — on Wednesday showed Oklahoma has 6,878 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 8,343 deaths in which the coronavirus was the cause or a contributor.

OSDH showed 450,543 total cases from CDC provisional state data, including 145 from Wednesday, and 450,315 total cases with OSDH disease investigation summary. Of the latter number, there were 2,135 active, a decrease of 219 in the past week. OSDH is no longer reporting recovered cases.

There have been 136 hospitalizations in the past week, bringing the total to 26,150, and according to OSDH's Situation Update, there is a three-day average of 136 total COVID-19 hospitalizations, 42 of which are in the ICU. In Northwest Oklahoma, there have been two cases with one in the ICU.

Cases in Garfield County increased by five in the past week for a total of 7,802, with 12 active, a decrease of 13 since last week, and 7,660, or 98.2%, recovered, according to OSDH. The majority of the cases — 6,903, or 88.5% — have been in Enid, which reported 12 active cases and 6,771 recovered.

Of the county's 130 deaths, 120 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 118 deaths.

There have been 3,053 cases, with 2,979 recovered and 65 deaths, from the 73701 ZIP code, primarily the eastern half of Enid, and 3,758 cases, with 3,702 recovered and 53 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 four in Woodward, three in Blaine, two in Kingfisher and one in Noble. No cases were reported in Grant, Major and Woods counties, and Alfalfa County saw a reduction of one case.

Woodward also reported two deaths in the past week.

Risk Level System

Garfield County and 24 others in the state are seeing green this week, meaning they have fewer than 1.43 COVID-19 new daily cases per 100,000 population on a seven-day average, according to the COVID-19 Risk Level System.

Only one of Oklahoma's 77 counties, Okmulgee, is in the moderate, or "orange," risk level; 51 are in the low, or "yellow," risk level; and 25 are in the new normal, or "green," risk level for the Risk Level System.

Last week, one county was in the moderate risk level, 64 in the low risk level and 12 in the new normal risk level.

This is the first time Garfield County has been in the new normal risk level since OSDH began releasing county risk level trends, reporting 1.2 cases per 100,000. On March 5, Garfield County was in the low risk level for the first time since Aug. 6, 2020.

The 25 "green" counties are Alfalfa, Atoka, Beaver, Bryan, Caddo, Cherokee, Cimarron, Garfield, Garvin, Grant, Harper, Haskell, Jackson, Johnston, Latimer, Major, Marshall, Noble, Nowata, Payne, Pittsburg, Pushmataha, Roger Mills, Tillman and Woods.

Garfield County, along with Alfalfa, Grant, Major, Noble and Woods counties, are all in "green" this week, according to OSDH, and Blaine, Kingfisher and Woodward counties are in "yellow."

Epidemiology Report

According to OSDH's Weekly Epidemiology Report, which is released every Wednesday, COVID-19 cases saw a 9.4% decrease in the numbers of reported cases compared with the previous week.

FromMay 2-8, 1,443 cases were reported, a decrease of 150 from the week before, April 25 through May 1, which had 1,593. The number of deaths this week was 46, two more than than the previous week.

OSDH reported 34% of the cases were people aged 50 and older, and 95% 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 26,150, according to the report.

Nationally, Oklahoma ranks 10th out of all states and the District of Columbia in the cumulative incidence of reported COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population, the same as last week. The state ranks 25th in the total number of reported COVID-19 cases, also the same as last week, and 26th in total number of reported COVID-19 deaths, the same as last week.

Gov. Kevin Stitt's most recent COVID-19 Executive Order expired on May 4. The expiration of the Executive Order changed how OSDH reports and tracks some COVID-19 data. Previously, reported data on hospital capacity, current COVID-19 hospitalizations and disease testing were obtained through daily surveys that OSDH conducted. OSDH will now be using data from U.S. Health and Human Services Protect in order to track this data.

Over the last seven days, 17,938 specimens have been tested, according to HHS Protect data. Of those, 759, or 4.2%, were positive. The death rate for total overall positive cases is at 1.5%, the same as last week.

From May 4-10, 54,896 vaccine doses were administered in the state, down by 15,342 compared with the week before. The total number of vaccines administered was 2,327,449, with 1,075,151 of those fully vaccinated.

In Garfield County, 37.9% of people 16 and older have received the first dose of the vaccine, and 71.9% of people 65 and older have received theirs.

According to OSDH, 31.1% of people 16 and older in Garfield County have completed the series, along with 61.7% of those 65 and older who have also been fully vaccinated.

Northwest Oklahoma

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

—Woodward with 3,164 cases, 3,123 recovered, six active and 35 deaths, 26 from Woodward, six from Mooreland, two from Fort Supply and one from Sharon.

—Kingfisher with 2,055 cases, 2,016 recovered, one 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 1,380 cases, 1,359 recovered, two active and 19 deaths, including 12 from Perry, two each from Billings, Marland and Red Rock and one from Morrison.

—Woods with 1,205 cases, 1,187 recovered, one active and 17 deaths, 15 from Alva and two not listed by town.

—Alfalfa with 1,154 cases, 1,148 recovered, none active and six deaths, with city data listing three from Carmen, two each from Aline and 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 1,045 cases, 1,024 recovered, three 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 955 cases, 934 recovered, none active and 21 deaths, 16 from Fairview, two from Cleo Springs, one from Ringwood and two not listed by town.

—Grant with 549 cases, 543 recovered, none active and six deaths, three from Wakita and one each from Deer Creek, Lamont and Nash.

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—Information also can be found at https://coronavirus.health.ok.gov/ and https://www.cdc.gov/.

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.