Oklahoma Health Department alert system update shows only one “green” county

TULSA — On the oldest map of COVID-19 risk levels, released by the Oklahoma State Department of Health for the week of July 8, 2020, the state lists 11 counties as “green,” 62 as “yellow,” and four as “orange,” indicating “new normal,” “low risk,” and “moderate” risk respectively.

The most recent maps lists only one “green” county, with 6 “yellow” counties and 70 now in the “orange” zone.

Despite the troubling trend toward more cases in rural areas, Dr. Dale Bratlzer, Chief COVID Officer at the University of Oklahoma, says hospital capacity remains fairly stable, though he does have concerns about having sufficient staffing.

“Oklahoma in general still has hospital bed capacity, but we do have limitations with respect to staffing, particularly nurse staffing, so that is a concern,” he said Thursday.

The other concern weighing heavily on the minds of health experts is the upcoming cold and flu season.

Dr. Bratzler noted that Oklahoma has already had confirmed flu cases.

“If we were to see an early outbreak of influenza, and it generated a lot of hospitalizations, we could get our hospitals in trouble in a hurry in terms of capacity,” Bratzler said.

Here are the latest figures released Friday, Oct. 9 by the Oklahoma State Department of Health:

*The total includes laboratory information provided to OSDH at the time of the report. Total counts may not reflect unique individuals.

**This number is a combination of hospitalized positive cases and hospitalized persons under investigation, as reported by hospitals at the time of the report. The data reflect a change in calculation and should not be compared to prior data.

***The purpose of publishing aggregated statistical COVID-19 data through the OSDH Dashboard, the Executive Order Report, and the Weekly Epidemiology and Surveillance Report is to support the needs of the general public in receiving important and necessary information regarding the state of the health and safety of the citizens of Oklahoma. These resources may be used only for statistical purposes and may not be used in any way that would determine the identity of any reported cases.

Data Source: Acute Disease Service, Oklahoma State Department of Health. *As of 2020-10-09 at 7:00 a.m.

Cox Media Group