A few weeks after Oklahoma’s coronavirus case counts began trending back up, hospitalizations have followed.
In its daily coronavirus update Thursday, the State Department of Health announced 610 Oklahomans were hospitalized for COVID-19. That rivals some of the highest hospitalization rates the state has seen since the pandemic began.
As schools and colleges reopened, Oklahoma reversed its decline in coronavirus cases, breaking records for daily cases counts and 7-day averages in September. According to the White House Coronavirus Task Force report released on Wednesday, the state ranks 5th-highest in the nation for new cases and 3rd for its positivity rate.
Until recently, hospitalizations remained fairly stable, but that has begun reversing as well.
Hospitalizations are what is known as a lagging indicator. People test positive weeks before they need hospitalized, so hospitalization figures typically surge a few weeks after case counts do.
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