As the number of new COVID-19 infections skyrocketed in Oklahoma to break records over the weekend, a CDC report shows the value of vaccines in keeping hospitalizations and deaths comparatively lower even amid a higher case surge.
In a study of more than 1.2 million adults who were fully vaccinated but still infected with COVID-19, severe or fatal outcomes were found to be rare. Only 189 (0.015%) developed severe complications, and only 36 (0.0033%) of them died from the disease, according to an analysis published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The bottom-line finding of the study was that fully vaccinated people — meaning the primary series — were quite protected,” said Dr. Dale Bratzler, the University of Oklahoma’s chief COVID officer.
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The CDC report from Friday notes that vaccinated individuals within the small subset who developed severe symptoms all had at least one risk factor for poor outcomes. Of those few vaccinated individuals who died from COVID, 78% of them had at least four risk factors.
“So that was a very dramatic finding,” Bratzler said.
Some have misinterpreted that finding as an indication that anyone without those risk factors can “get back to our normal lives,” but the study excluded unvaccinated people.
Unvaccinated individuals and vaccinated people with risk factors may experience severe symptoms if infected with any variant of COVID-19, according to federal guidance. For the CDC study, severe symptoms included hospitalization with acute respiratory failure, ventilation, admission to intensive-care units or death, including discharges to hospice care.
The report on the CDC study was published just before Oklahoma strung together three consecutive days of daily COVID-19 case counts surpassing any other point of the pandemic.
The state reported 9,320 new cases Saturday, 9,608 Sunday and 8,130 Monday. The previous record was 6,487 new cases on Jan. 10, 2021.
Oklahoma’s seven-day average of new cases skyrocketed to 6,829 — 60% above the previous record of 4,256 reported Jan. 13, 2021. The rolling average is up 148% from a week ago and 472% higher than two weeks ago.
Bratzler explained that the biggest predictor of death from COVID-19 is age. That has been known all along, but the CDC study also identified as a risk factor immunosuppression, such as patients with cancer or rheumatoid arthritis or those who have undergone organ or bone marrow transplants.
Bratzler said the study found an additional six medical conditions that were statistically associated with higher risk of complications: diabetes, chronic kidney disease, chronic neurological conditions, chronic cardiac disease, pulmonary disease and chronic liver disease.
“We have a population who is at substantial risk of both the complications and death from COVID-19,” Bratzler said of Oklahoma and its poor rankings nationally for prevalence of these conditions. “Clearly we have a vulnerable population, and again the best mitigation strategy is to promote vaccination.”
COVID-19 hospitalizations often lag a couple of weeks behind case counts, which has public health and medical leaders concerned and again urging people to get vaccinated and, if eligible, a booster dose.
Hospitalizations are rising, too, in Oklahoma, just not as dramatically as cases.
At least some hospitals — including Saint Francis Health System in Tulsa — are again using hallways to house patients as long waits return to emergency departments. Oklahoma hospitals have fewer health care workers than in 2020 to take care of people, and intensive care beds routinely are filled as soon as they become open.
The state’s recent three-day average of hospital inpatients with COVID-19 is 1,150, which is 27% above a week ago (902) and 53% above two weeks ago (750). The delta variant wave’s hospitalization peak hit 1,607.
Of the 1,150 hospitalized individuals with COVID, 305 are in intensive care.
The latest state data show that 93% of COVID hospitalizations in Oklahoma the past 30 days were unvaccinated people.
The CDC in its recent study looked only at vaccinated individuals, using electronic medical data from 1,228,664 patients from 465 health care facilities in the U.S. Those studied were patients who became fully vaccinated between December 2020 and October 2021.
Featured video: Hallways at Saint Francis again needed for patients amid third COVID-19 surge
To indicate people should go back to life as normal because omicron could be less severe is "a disservice," Dr. Ryan Parker says. "That sort of propagated this surge."
Get tests mailed to you: COVID-19 information Oklahomans need to know
Where you can find COVID testing
Households may order free at-home tests from USPS.com. Limit of one order per residential address (each order includes four individual rapid antigen COVID-19 tests); shipping free starting in late January.
The Tulsa Health Department is offering free COVID-19 testing to those who are uninsured. All local health care systems also offer testing to the community with additional sites.
Schedule a test through THD’s website, tulsa-health.org, or call 918-582-9355.
- Walmart locations
- CVS locations
- Access Medical Care
- Morton Comprehensive Health Services, 1334 N. Lansing Ave.
- Med Express, 2140 S. Yale Ave.
- MedWise Urgent Care Center | Walk-In Clinics
- Community Health Connection, 12020 E. 31st St.
- Regional Medical Laboratory, 9330 E. 41st St.
- Tulsa Mobile COVID Testing
- NOHS Medical Clinic
- 6732 E. 41st St.
- Call ahead to schedule: 918-794-4777
- Arc Diagnostics
- Curative
- Drive-thru testing in Tulsa County
Saint Francis Health System — Warren Clinic Elm in Broken Arrow has a drive-through clinic in the southwest parking lot that is open seven days a week during urgent care hours, with no appointments required. Stay in your car and follow the pink signs.
Ascension St. John — COVID-19 testing for the public is handled through Regional Medical Laboratory by appointment, mostly from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. There are multiple RML locations in Tulsa County, with a high-capacity drive-through facility at 9330 E. 41st St: rmlonline.com
Axis HealthCare System — Locations in Bixby, Bartlesville, Inola, Pryor and Sapulpa offer drive-through testing with no out-of-pocket cost. PCR tests are done in-house, with results in 24-48 hours. Go to axishealth.net or call 918-943-3790.
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Most updated mask guidance from CDC, WHO
Breakthrough cases are occurring in vaccinated individuals, who in a small percentage of cases are requiring hospitalization for those infections.
The World Health Organization and CDC agree: Unvaccinated individuals should keep wearing face masks in public places.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends fully vaccinated people in areas of high transmission wear a mask in public indoor settings.
Cloth masks are not recommended due to ineffective prevention of omicron variant transmission.
Incidence of severe or fatal COVID in children similar to adult rate, Saint Francis doctor says
Who is mandated to receive a COVID-19 vaccine?
Health care employees, like with many other vaccine-preventable illnesses, are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The Supreme Court on Jan. 13, 2022, allowed the mandate for workers at federally funded health care facilities to take effect nationwide.
The same decision blocked a federal vaccine-or-test requirement for large workplaces. Oklahoma had joined attorneys general in six other states in asking for a stay of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule requiring that employees in workplaces of 100 or more be vaccinated.
Oklahoma's AG also filed a lawsuit that resulted in a temporary restraining order to prevent Ascension St. John from suspending or firing employees who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and whose religious exemption has been denied.
Attorney General John O’Connor also has sued in other courts in efforts to stop federal vaccination mandates, including one for federal contractors.
The Secretary of Defense has said members of the Oklahoma National Guard would not be given an exemption from a federal vaccination requirement. Oklahoma Air National Guard members risk their pay if they drill without having been vaccinated.
How do Oklahomans feel about federal vaccine mandates?
Does your child age 5-11 really need a COVID-19 vaccine?
The arrival of child-sized doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has Oklahoma pediatricians fielding a new, common question: Does my child really need this?
“Children are not supposed to pass away,” said Dr. Donna Tyungu, pediatric infectious disease specialist with Oklahoma Children’s Hospital-OU Health. “COVID is now one of the 10 leading causes of death for children in this country — and now it has become a vaccine-preventable illness.
“We know from adult cases the chance to get reinfected is three times lower for those who are vaccinated than for those who have already been infected. With the delta variant, the virus was much, much more transmissible among children, which is what led to thousands of children being hospitalized and hundreds of deaths in this age group.”
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Can schools mandate masks?
Senate Bill 658 bars school districts from imposing mask mandates unless a public health emergency is declared — something Gov. Kevin Stitt has said he wouldn’t do amid a sharp rise in COVID-related hospitalizations.
State leaders have been told by federal officials it is within a local school district's discretion to use stimulus funds for implementing indoor masking policies aligned with CDC guidance. Oklahoma plans to appeal a judge’s Sept. 1 ruling that mandates are legal if exemptions are allowed.
Read more: Feds investigating Oklahoma over school mask-mandate ban
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Can unvaccinated people be immune due to a previous COVID infection?
Post-COVID infection expectations
Nearly one-quarter of patients had at least one post-COVID condition 30 days or more after their initial diagnosis.
Patients with more severe cases of COVID-19 have more post-infection health conditions, but 19% of asymptomatic cases also suffer long-hauler symptoms.
The five most common post-COVID conditions across all ages (from most to least common): pain, breathing difficulties, hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol/triglycerides), malaise and fatigue, and high blood pressure.
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