Low Number Of New COVID Infections Easing Stress On Oklahoma Hospitals

The state health department says 468 Oklahomans are in the hospital with COVID-19 right now. That number has been going down for several weeks.

The lower number of new COVID-19 infections is easing the stress on hospitals.

OSDH said all eight of their hospital surge plan regions are now in the green zone, which is the lowest level. That means less than 15 percent of hospital patients in each region have COVID-19.

In December and January, several regions were above 30 percent and hospitals were considering limiting surgeries.

The Oklahoma Hospital Association said there is not a concern for that anymore and these lower numbers are a big relief for doctors and nurses who have been on the front lines. The organization is also not as concerned about the staffing issues they had earlier in the pandemic and most healthcare workers are getting some breaks.

Still, they said it is not a time to ease up taking precautions because COVID-19 is still circulating in the community and Oklahomans are still being hospitalized with severe cases.

"We are not out of the woods,” said LeWanna Halstead, Vice President of Quality for the Oklahoma Hospital Association. “We cannot act like we can go back to life as normal. We've got to maintain right now. The other thing is, you have an opportunity for a vaccine, please get a vaccine."

136 Oklahomans statewide are currently in the ICU with COVID-19.