Northeastern Oklahoma seeing record surge of Covid-19 patients

OTTAWA COUNTY & DELAWARE COUNTY, Okla. –“We are seeing a resurgence of covid cases, in fact between Ottawa and Delaware counties, over the last two weeks there have been over five hundred new cases,” said James Thompson, Regional Director for the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

Northeastern Oklahoma is seeing an increase in Covid-19 cases.

Integris released a statement on their website saying:

“COVID-19 cases continue to escalate in Northeastern Oklahoma. Both INTEGRIS Grove Hospital and INTEGRIS Miami Hospital say they are seeing more inpatients now due to the virus than even at the height of the pandemic.”

Their website also states that low vaccination rates play a factor.

“The vaccination rate in these areas is low, only about 23% in Ottawa County and 25% in Delaware County. The fewer people vaccinated against the virus means more people are unprotected, making it the perfect environment for the coronavirus to thrive. ”

Currently, their Grove hospital is treating 12 Covid patients. In Miami, they’re treating 7, which the hospital says are high numbers for their smaller buildings.

The state health department says as of July 14th, cases have been on the rise.

“There were 118 new cases in Delaware county, and 93 in Ottawa county, and then this current reporting period which would be through yesterday there were 190 new cases in Ottawa county and 144 in Delaware county,” Thompson said.

Citing low vaccination rates throughout the two counties for the uptick in cases.

“As of yesterday individuals with at least one dose of covid vaccine in Delaware county was 38.2% and those that was fully vaccinated was 29%…for Ottawa County, those that have had at least one dose is 35% and those that have been fully vaccinated again is around 29%.”

Thompson added that most hospitalizations are occurring in the unvaccinated.

“Those that we are seeing that are being hospitalized and going into the i-c-u type of setting are those that are unvaccinated.”

He explained that the vaccine is still the most effective way to combat Covid.

“If you look in comparison to the one point three million people who have been vaccinated and you have around 800 who have tested positive that have been vaccinated, that’s even less than the 95 percent efficacy that vaccines claim to have. that’s a higher rate of success on the vaccine’s part.”

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