The Creek County COVID-19 rose 279% during the last week of the year, from December 28th to January 5th, with 436 new cases confirmed in the county as of January 6th, 2022. The rise in cases, although not surprising given the season, has led to some disappointing cancellations such as school sports events and Kellyville sending certain grades to distance learning. Students in grades 3rd through 6th are now doing distance learning days through January 14th, but parents can still pick up student lunches from the school during this time. They will revisit distance learning as the week progresses.
At Monday’s County Commissioners meeting, boxes of COVID-19 test kits were authorized for purchase for the Sheriff’s county offices to be used by office staff and inmates. Previously, the test kits had been quoted at $2,700, but when the office went to purchase the test kits they were actually only $2,400. It was then questioned whether they should buy more than six cases, but decided against buying more than already agreed in case supplies couldn’t keep up with the order.
Newt Stephens, County Commissioner of District #1, confessed he also recently had COVID-19, but he’s doing fine now. He explained that the virus can nest for a long time despite having no symptoms or actively spreading the disease, so taking multiple tests and re-testing can be ineffective as you might no longer be sick or contagious but still produce a positive test result. It is recommended that for a positive test result, one spends five days in quarantine followed by five days of wearing a mask if one is unvaccinated. The guidelines for someone that is vaccinated are a little different, as you don’t have to quarantine as long as you’re not experiencing symptoms, but should still wear a mask and only travel out of necessity according to the CDC.
On January 5th alone, there were more than 700,000 confirmed cases in the US, also according to the CDC, with approximately 95% of all cases being the new, milder omicron variant. This is more than double the number of cases last year at the same time in America.
The Oklahoma State Department of Health released an update on the COVID-19 situation today saying “case numbers from over the weekend reflect a steady increase in community transmission, something OSDH has anticipated occurring with trends seen in the state over the past week and elsewhere in the country.”
In response to the increase, OSDH has increased testing operations over the weekend, extending hours at county health departments and also offering testing through mobile units in some areas of the state.
A hospital capacity report released today by the state’s health department shows a decrease in ICU bed capacity at usually 30% or lower capacity in most hospitals.
