Some could find following the guidance challenging, Oklahoma State Medical Association President Dr. Mary Clarke says.
The Tulsa Health Department is discontinuing its COVID-19 ZIP code risk map in lieu of the federal government’s county-level tool.
Bruce Dart, the department’s executive director, said Tuesday his agency is shifting to align with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new tool and masking recommendations, issued Friday. The Tulsa Health Department will still offer residents local information from its COVID data webpage by embedding the CDC map as a widget in place of its own ZIP code map.
The CDC’s county-level tool uses new cases reported, new hospital admissions and percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, whereas THD’s risk map relied on active cases in each ZIP code.
People are also reading…
“These more accurately reflect metrics to the current situation in Tulsa County,” Dart said of the CDC’s metrics. “They show us current levels of population immunity and tools available for public health and clinical care.”
Dart said THD’s map reflected the best science available at the time it was introduced in September 2020, providing Tulsa County residents with an accurate representation of risks in their areas.
The CDC recommends that people in counties in its high-risk category — like Tulsa County and most of northeastern Oklahoma — still wear masks indoors.
The medium category recommends that people at high risk for severe illness talk with their health care provider about whether to wear a mask and take other precautions. The low-level recommendations are that people stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations and get tested if symptoms are exhibited.
“Now the CDC updates their risk recommendations every Thursday, so we’ll see on Thursday if (Tulsa County’s) risk changes from high to moderate or low,” Dart said, later adding that he feels “very strongly” that the county is close to getting to a point where it’s generally OK to take masks off indoors.
Dart said a person who is up to date on vaccinations — either fully vaccinated or boosted if eligible — is likely to be “very, very safe” in their workplace without a mask. An unvaccinated individual still poses a greater risk to themselves and others by not wearing a mask, he said.
“So if you’re unvaccinated, just to be a caring human being and care for the people around you, I think it’s a great recommendation to continue to wear a mask — especially until we transition away from that high community risk level,” Dart said. “Once we get to moderate or low, I think we can have some great conversations about not wearing masks, period, regardless of vaccination status. But we’re not there.”
Despite COVID-19’s rapid decline, health experts are still warning the public that the highly infectious disease is still floating around the community — which is especially important to know because some people are unable to be protected by vaccination.
Dr. Mary Clarke, president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association, said some people have chosen not to be vaccinated. Immunocompromised individuals — whose immune systems might not mount a robust immune response to vaccination — and children younger than age 5 — who aren’t yet eligible for vaccination — are still susceptible.
Clarke said the CDC is trying the best it can but that its new guidance doesn’t take into account people who can’t be vaccinated or aren’t as well protected by the vaccine.
Even in a low-risk area, she said, it only takes one infected person to pass the disease on to someone who is immunocompromised because they are undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.
“So there is still some controversy around the current recommendations,” Clarke said.
She added that the CDC’s algorithm will change over time, so the federal government is asking the public to be “very aware” of their county and state risk level.
“That (risk level) may change in any week,” Clarke said.
It isn’t difficult to wear a mask, she said, so it’s probably still a good idea to mask up in public in most situations.
“It is not anything that’s going to harm you,” Clarke said. “And if you happen to be in the store for 10 or 15 minutes, that’s probably not going to be a particular burden to you.”
