With a record number of Oklahomans hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19, state officials on Wednesday reported 3,238 new cases and 42 more deaths related to the virus.
The most deaths identified in a single reporting day was 54 on Dec. 2.
Among fatal cases reported Wednesday were three younger patients: a Delaware County woman in the 18-35 age group, a Comanche County woman in the 36-49 age group and a McCurtain County man in the 36-49 age group.
All other additional deaths were identified in patients 50 or older from Cleveland, Comanche, Creek, Custer, Delaware, Grady, Kingfisher, Kiowa, Muskogee, Nowata, Oklahoma, Pottawatomie, Rogers, Tulsa and Washington counties, bringing the state’s death toll to 2,128.
According to Oklahoma State Department of Health data from Wednesday, 245,229 cases have been confirmed across the state since March, with 32,194 currently active. More than 210,907 patients are considered recovered.
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Tulsa County had an additional 528 cases Wednesday, bringing the total recorded since March to 40,757 cases.
With nine additional fatalities reported Wednesday, Tulsa County’s seven-day rolling average of new COVID-19 deaths is at a new high for the third day in a row.
The state’s seven-day rolling average of new cases is 3,176.
A record 1,790 patients remained hospitalized across Oklahoma, with 486 in ICU beds, according to Tuesday data from the state’s executive order report and hospital surge plan.
Those figures include patients with confirmed infections as well as suspected cases of COVID-19. The previous record for hospitalized patients related to COVID-19, 1,782, was reported Dec. 1. The previous record for ICU hospitalizations related to COVID-19, 482, was reported Dec. 3.
Data on suspected infections is expected to be removed from state dashboards and has already been removed from nightly COVID-19 executive order reports, according to Matt Stacy, hospital surge plan coordinator for Oklahoma.
“Since flu season is about to be in full swing, we want to ensure we are not getting skewed numbers,” Stacy said in response to questions about why the data would be excluded after being included in reports since early in the pandemic. He noted “there is not reliable data from hospitals about when a PUI (person under investigation) converts to a confirmed case.”
COVID-19 by the numbers
The data below are current as of 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Tulsa County
Confirmed cases: 40,757 (+528)
Deaths: 328 (+9)
State of Oklahoma
Confirmed cases: 245,229 (+3,238)
Deaths: 2,128 (+42)
United States
Confirmed cases: 16,914,853
Deaths: 307,064
Worldwide
Confirmed cases: 74,087,090
Deaths: 1,646,687
Sources: Oklahoma State Department of Health, Tulsa Health Department, Johns Hopkins University of Medicine
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