‘Cautiously optimistic:’ Oklahoma seeing slowdown in COVID-19 delta variant surge, state leaders say

Oklahoma health leaders are "cautiously optimistic" as COVID-19 case counts have steadily declined over the past few weeks, a top Health Department official said this week. 

Cases climbed rapidly from July into August, reaching levels that neared the winter peak and overwhelming hospitals. Last week, cases declined by about 15% from the week before, according to data from the state Health Department. On Friday, the seven-day average of new cases was about 2,100, down from about 2,600 two weeks earlier. 

“Though we are not quite on the other end of this surge, we hope that in the coming weeks this downward trend will be reflected in our hospitalizations and deaths as well,” Deputy Health Commissioner Keith Reed said at a news conference Thursday. 

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Officials are monitoring to determine whether delays in reporting from Labor Day could be contributing to the downward trend. Holiday gatherings have also prompted COVID-19 spikes in the past, Reed said, so officials are watching to see whether a post-Labor Day increase shows up in the numbers. 

“It does appear that we are seeing a slight downward trend in our numbers,” he said. “We want to be really optimistic about that, but we're cautious because COVID is very resilient, and we want to make sure that we watch the data closely and don't get too far ahead of what the data shows us.”

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Dr. Dale Bratzler, the chief COVID-19 officer with the University of Oklahoma, said this week the state’s trends in new cases are looking “very, very good.” 

"We're not completely out of the woods yet — there's still a lot of people in the hospital," he said. "We're going to continue to see deaths from COVID-19 for some time to come, because many of those people who get that sick ... can be in the hospital for many weeks. 

Reed, of the state Health Department, urged more Oklahomans to get vaccinated to slow the spread of COVID-19 and protect themselves. 

“This will help keep these case numbers down,” he said.

This week, Oklahoma hit the 4 million dose mark. About 46% of the state’s total population is now fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Fifty-seven percent of Oklahoma adults are fully vaccinated, and nearly 80% of the state’s 65 and older population is fully vaccinated. 

There’s still significant variation from county to county in vaccination rates. Dewey County, in western Oklahoma, has the lowest share of its population with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at 24.7%, according to CDC data.

Oklahoma County has the highest, with nearly 63% of the total population having had at least one dose.