Positive cases in state at 81

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Positive cases in state at 81

Tue, 03/24/2020 - 13:15
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The Oklahoma State Department of Health confirmed on Monday that 81 people in Oklahoma have tested positive for COVID-19 with two deaths in the state. Kay County now has five confirmed cases. That number is up from 67 state cases on Sunday.

There are two children under the age of four that have tested positive. Other ages include 36 for ages 18-49, 23 for ages 50-64 and 20 for ages 65 and over. Oklahoma County is the highest county in the state with 29 positive cases. That is followed by Cleveland County with 16, Tulsa County with 11 and Kay County with five.

A total of 15 Oklahomans are hospitalized throughout the state with the virus.

The OSDH advises that if you are coming from a country or a region with widespread ongoing transmission of COVID-19 (Level 3 Travel Heath Notice), you may be screened when you arrive in the United States. After you arrive home, take the following steps to protect yourself and others:

Stay at home. Do not go to work, school, or leave your house for 14 days. Discuss your work situation with your employer.

Monitor your health. Take your temperature with a thermometer two times a day and monitor for fever (temperature of 100.4°F/38°C or higher). Also watch for cough or trouble breathing.

Practice social distancing within the home. Avoid contact with other people for the 14 days. Maintain distance (approximately 6 feet or 2 meters) from family members and others in the home when possible.

Before there was community spread of COVID-19 in Oklahoma, monitoring pending PUIs was a way to track all imported suspect cases as a means of preventing community spread. Now that there is community spread of COVID-19 in Oklahoma, the PUI metric no longer reflects the current outbreak status in Oklahoma. This is largely driven by the high volume of people being tested at labs independent of the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) Public Health Laboratory. Therefore, OSDH will no longer report daily PUI numbers to prevent causing confusion as they transition to an expanded process of testing for COVID-19 in Oklahoma. There is a high incidence of cases in the 18-49 age group. People of all age groups are asked to stay home and practice social distancing.

The Governor’s Solution Task Force is actively working to expand COVID-19 testing through public-private partnerships, engaging OU and OSU laboratories and deploying satellite testing units in Oklahoma, Tulsa, Kay and Pittsburg Counties.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) continues to support guidelines from the CDC related to social distancing and personal hygiene. OSDH encourages Oklahomans to stay home, reduce person-to-person contact, wash hands frequently, and avoid touching your face. If you develop symptoms such as fever, shortness of breath or cough, please contact your medical professional or call the COVID-19 call center at 877-215-8336 or 211 for assistance.

For more information, visit coronavirus. health.ok.gov.

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