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Delta variant, low vaccination rates contribute to alarming COVID spike in Oklahoma

TULSA — Oklahoma has seen the number of hospital beds occupied by COVID patients roughly triple in the course of two weeks, and Tuesday the state released figures indicating 25 of those patients are minors.

The uptick is largely attributable to two factors, according to members of the Healthier Oklahoma Coalition, which held a briefing for reporters on Tuesday.

The Delta variant of COVID has proven to spread more rapidly than the original virus, and doctors say patients who develop serious symptoms tend to do so more rapidly as well.

The other issue is the relatively low uptake of vaccines in the state, which lags well behind the national average.

It’s estimated that fewer than one-tenth of one percent of fatalities from COVID have occurred among the vaccinated, according to figures from the CDC and Johns Hopkins University.

Oklahoma has no emergency orders in place, despite the fact that the case numbers this week are well above the numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths the state was experiencing when Gov. Kevin Stitt issued his emergency declaration in March of 2020.

March 31, 2020 the state reported 177 hospitalizations for COVID; the numbers released Tuesday (July 20, 2020) indicate 386 hospitalizations, including 25 children.

Children, and younger adults, have the lowest percentage of vaccinations, and unsurprisingly, those age groups are seeing the largest increase in COVID infections.

Children under 12, of course, are not yet allowed to receive the vaccine under federal guidelines.

That’s why pediatricians in particular are alarmed that the state legislature passed, and the governor signed, a law which prohibits public schools in Oklahoma from requiring vaccinations or masks.

You can watch Tuesday’s entire briefing from the Healthier Oklahoma Coalition here.

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