Altus, Claremore and Tahlequah were among the biggest hotspots for COVID-19 infections in the past week, according to an analysis of Oklahoma State Department of Health ZIP code data.

Much of the outbreak in Altus has been traced to employees of a hot dog factory. Previous weeks’ hotspots, like south Oklahoma City and Yukon, continued to record new cases but also had increases in the number of recovered patients, driving the active case numbers down.

Overall, the state has had more than 29,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 484 deaths. There were 5,355 active cases as of Friday. That’s up from 4,929 active cases on July 17.  

Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital remained steady this week, although at elevated levels. There were 628 patients in hospital on July 23, up from 604 a week earlier. Gov. Kevin Stitt and health officials announced an update to the state’s hospital surge plan that expands the number of available beds in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. 

Methodology: Oklahoma Watch calculated the weekly active cases for each ZIP code in the state by taking the number of new COVID-19 cases since July 10 and subtracting the number of deaths and recoveries in that ZIP code. The Oklahoma State Department of Health considers a patient “recovered” if they are out of a 14-day period, are not in the hospital and have not died. The designation is not a reflection of any single patient’s ongoing health conditions from an infection. 

Paul Monies has been a reporter with Oklahoma Watch since 2017 and covers state agencies and public health. Contact him at (571) 319-3289 or pmonies@oklahomawatch.org. Follow him on Twitter @pmonies. 

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