Omicron Causes Disruptions This Holiday Season

As the holiday season continues the Omicron variant has caused disruptions for some.

According to a recent Tulsa World analysis of federal data Oklahoma ranks third-highest for cumulative COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. since the pandemic began almost two years ago.

Oklahoma health officials announced Tuesday that they’ve detected the state’s first confirmed case of Omicron -- here in the state.

Dr. Dale Bratzler at O-U health hopes that with more than half of Oklahomans vaccinated it may help to slow the spread of this new variant in the U.S.--

"In the countries that are seeing rapid spread of the omicron variant, they have low vaccination rates. And while the united states isn't great, we're right at 60% fully vaccinated, which should potentially slow the spread of this variant."

Health experts and government officials also hope more testing will help.

Right now -- many Walgreens and C-V-S pharmacies are offering testing by appointment.

Some local urgent care facilities are also offering rapid testing.

Another option -- the Diagnostic Laboratory of Oklahoma has drive-up testing weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

To learn more visit:

https://www.dlolab.com/covid-19/where-get-tested/dlo-drive-thru-testing-okc