TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa County has seen a rise in COVID cases just in the last few weeks.
This week the Oklahoma State Department of Health reported 1,081 new positive COVID cases. Last week, it reported 909 new cases. The week before that, it reported 716 new cases.
Medical experts in Tulsa said they're also seeing those positive cases go up after the holiday weekend.
Chief Medical Officer at St. Francis Health System, Dr. Reetu Singh, said their volume of COVID patients has gone up by 30 percent, just in the last week.
“Numbers of our hospitalized patients are definitely up from last week we were in 50s last week and we’re up to 85,” Singh said.
“The thing that has been more noticeable has been the percentage of our COVID tests that has been positive, Patrick Aguilar, Chief Medical Officer with QuikTrip, Medwise said.
Dr. Singh said the patients they're seeing have the B.4 and B.5 COVID-19 variants, many of them are between 65 and 70-years-old.
She said 62 percent of the patients who are hospitalized are unvaccinated, most of them showing milder symptoms.
“Body aches, headache, muscle aches, and lots of G.I. symptoms,” Singh said.
“The thing that has been more noticeable has been the percentage of our COVID tests that has been positive,” Patrick Aguilar said.
Chief Medical Officer Patrick Aguilar said it's a similar story at MedWise, the new medical clinic owned by QuikTrip opened in September of 2020.
He said they have also seen cases on the rise there.
“One of the things that’s been really dramatically different overtime thought is the amount of testing that we do. During a peak season we may be doing dozens and dozens and dozens of tests a day and during a slower time, we may only do a few at each of our clinics,” Aguilar said.
Dr. Singh said right now, their St. Francis Hospital does not have any patients on ventilators. Meanwhile, the pediatric hospital has two children around six years old hospitalized.
With more vaccine options available for young children, Dr. Singh encourages parents to talk with their pediatricians about what's best for their child.
“I really hope you can have that discussion with your pediatrician. Let them explain the risk and benefits and so far benefits definitely outweigh the risks of getting the vaccine," Dr. Singh said.
While you may notice COVID-19 cases are going up, the Oklahoma Department of Health said you can expect to see a decline in the death count. That's because the OSDH said there will be a temporary backlog on the death count while the national death reporting system undergoes an upgrade.
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