COVID-19: Two more deaths in Tulsa County; another spike in cases reported across Oklahoma

As of Thursday morning, 879 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Oklahoma, according to data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

Four more deaths were reported statewide. Two of the people who died, a man in the 36-49 age group and a man who was older than 65, were in Tulsa County.

The other deaths reported Thursday were in Stephens and Muskogee counties.

There have been 257 hospitalizations due to the disease in Oklahoma, and 34 people have died. COVID-19 has been confirmed in 52 of the 77 Oklahoma counties.

The second spike in positive results roughly coincides with a significant expansion in state testing for the disease. On Wednesday, Gov. Kevin Stitt urged medical providers to begin testing any individuals who exhibit symptoms of COVID-19 — a fever above 100.4 degrees, coughing and shortness of breath — and those who have been in contact with a person who has tested positive for the virus that causes it.

Testing was initially restricted to people who were symptomatic and had travel history to affected areas or had close contact with an infected individual.

The governor renewed his call for expanded testing at a press conference Thursday evening.

“We have got to increase the testing in all of Oklahoma,” Stitt said. “Right now we have the ability to test 15,000 cases at labs in Oklahoma. That’s not counting all of the private labs that we have. So we need all of our state health departments, our hospitals, our mobile labs to loosen those standards.

“Yesterday we had nine mobile testing labs set up across the state. We did 500 tests. Tomorrow we’ll have 14 labs set up across the state.”

Randy Krehbiel contributed to this story.

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View interactive graphic showing Oklahoma COVID-19 cases by county, age group

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