State Health Officials Say COVID-19 Cases Are Going Down

Officials with the Oklahoma State Department of Heath said there has been a decline in COVID-19 cases, but also a decline in the past week for vaccinations.

In the weekly epidemiology report, the state reported that from September 5 through the 11th COVID-19 cases in the state dropped by 15.1%. There was also a 9.3% jump in recovery from COVID-19.

"We are cautiously optimistic the numbers are trending downward, and we have seen that in the past couple of weeks," said State Deputy Commissioner of Health Keith Reed.

There were 232 deaths in the past seven days and 5.7% of the people who got COVID-19 in the past week were hospitalized. Data has showed that in the state of Oklahoma one person dies every 37 minutes from the virus.

"Sadness and disappointment, quite frankly." said Reed. "That's the worst part of this pandemic is the impact it has had on individuals not just hospitalized but the deaths and the impact that has on families."

The OSDH has also started in the past week to keep track of hospitalizations and the breakdowns of fully vaccinated, non-vaccinated and partially vaccinated in the past 30 days.

By far, the people who have ended up in the hospital have been unvaccinated. Just in the past 30 days in the age group 50-64 there were 822 hospitalizations of people who were not vaccinated. But, for those who were fully vaccinated there were 41 and among those partially vaccinated there were 25. 

"We know there have been deaths that have occurred in those who are vaccinated," said Reed. "But very, very few compared to the vaccinated population."

Doctors, like OU Health's Chief COVID-19 Officer, Dr. Dale Bratzler, said if cases continue to decline, we could see a drop off in death in the next couple of weeks.