3,100 Active COVID-19 Cases In Oklahoma, New Variants Concerning Health Officials

Ninety-nine percent of Americans hospitalized with COVID are not vaccinated, with an average of 380 new cases every day, and health officials said time is up to get a shot.

"The COVID-19 virus causes good immunity for about 90 days after infection, but at that point, those antibodies drop very dramatically, so the ability for you to be reinfected is high," said Dr. Mary Clarke, the President of Oklahoma State Medical Association.

Doctors point to unvaccinated Oklahomans for the Delta variant spreading like wildfire.

We have 3,100 active cases right now and more than 200 people hospitalized, mostly in northeast Oklahoma.

News 9’s Tevis Hillis asked Clarke what state leaders should do differently to get more people vaccinated.

She said it might already be too late, but doctors can still do their part.

"We just need to keep working with patients and being patient. I know there is pressure to get people vaccinated, but we can be patient and calm," said Clarke.

While health officials encourage Oklahomans to talk to their physicians about the vaccine, health experts are concerned about the Lambda variant, which officials said is causing an increase of deaths in Chile, but they do not know why.

"Is it health care, is it the public health system, is it the patients, is it the vaccine?" said Clarke.

Health officials said that while it has not been detected here, they are concerned about the low sequencing rate here in the state.

That's how we can detect variants of the virus in the state.