OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – COVID-19 is again on the rise in Oklahoma, in response to INTEGRIS Well being officers.
Oklahoma has skilled a 14 % enhance in constructive COVID instances and a 26 % enhance in COVID hospitalizations in simply the previous week, in response to INTEGRIS officers.
INTEGRIS Well being has seen a giant bounce in COVID sufferers in its Northeast Oklahoma hospitals.
“We at present have as many COVID sufferers within the hospital as we did on the peak of the pandemic. Ottawa County has been hit onerous by the Delta variant,” mentioned Justin Mitchell, D.O., a hospitalist at INTEGRIS Miami Hospital. “Sadly, we’ve a low fee of vaccination amongst our residents and these sufferers appear to be hit the toughest with the illness. We have now seen a number of sufferers hospitalized who had been vaccinated, however they’re typically doing significantly better than those that weren’t vaccinated.”
Oklahoma State Division of Well being officers imagine there are at present 2,336 lively COVID-19 instances in Oklahoma. Officers say 175 Oklahomans had been hospitalized with COVID-19 on common over the previous three days.
The sudden rise in COVID instances comes after a steep decline.
“We went for weeks with out a single affected person being hospitalized with COVID. Then in mid-June we noticed an uptick and have been caring for hospitalized COVID sufferers every day since,” mentioned INTEGRIS Grove hospitalist Samuel Ratermann, M.D. “We’re additionally seeing a a lot larger variety of youthful sufferers than we’ve previously, and these sufferers are very unwell.”
Information reveals that round 28 % of Oklahomans who take a look at constructive for COVID-19 find yourself within the hospital.
The extremely contagious Delta variant is the rationale for the rise in COVID-19 instances and the severity of these instances, officers mentioned.
The Delta variant is of specific concern as a result of it unfold simply and rapidly, in response to the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC).
The Delta variant accounted for simply over 1 / 4 of recent U.S. COVID-19 instances a number of weeks in the past. Nonetheless, it now accounts for over 50 % of recent instances. In some elements of nation, together with elements of the Midwest, Delta accounts for as a lot as 80 % of recent instances.
The variant has been present in testing samples from Northeast Oklahoma.
INTEGRIS Well being medical doctors encourage all individuals age 12 and older to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
French researchers have gathered new proof that COVID-19 vaccines supply sturdy safety in opposition to COVID mutations such because the Delta variant.
France’s Pasteur Institute researches introduced new proof Thursday that getting totally vaccinated is vital to guard in opposition to COVID-19, together with the Delta variant.
Laboratory exams present that blood from a number of dozen individuals who solely obtained their first dose of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines “barely inhibited” the Delta variant, in response to the journal Nature. However almost all of the take a look at topics had what researchers deemed an immune increase sturdy sufficient to neutralize the Delta variant weeks after getting their second dose of the vaccine.
