Oklahoma has a grave medical statistic emerging from the early data on the Covid-19 pandemic. After 14 days of infection in the state, our patients have died at a rate higher than 46 other states. 15 of our 377 reported cases have resulted in death. Only Vermont, Washington, and Louisiana have a worse death rate.
In terms of state saturation, Oklahoma is relatively safer than 38 other states. New York, by comparison, has not only a far greater raw number of patients, but more importantly a '27-times-higher' saturation (per capita). Imagine if your square mile around your residence had 27 times as many infected patients. That means your own infection is far more eminent. For Oklahoma's public health authority, this has to be a very troubling reality. If Oklahoma has just a relative few cases, but we're losing them at a rate which is 150% higher than our national average. Clearly, the data is hitting our medical providers like a sobering slap. Our state is now creating 2 specialty hospitals just for Covid-19 patients. |
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This is new data for the people of Oklahoma to digest. Our public health personnel knows this, but it's not the kind of data we've seen released to the public. At least not in this kind of 'number crunching' detail.
Sooner Politics found the raw data on CNN's website. CNN says they drew their data from the Nation's state & county health departments. Their data was last updated in the early hours of Sunday morning. This info underscores the challenge to get patients with serious symptoms in the hands of competent medical services at an earlier point in their illness. It also means that our medical professionals have to act with skill, and have insights into the best practices of intensive care. It could be an anomaly. Let's hope so. Our state is preparing for a grueling 4 weeks ahead, as the full force of the spread hits us. |