| Oklahoma's new covid cases are finally on the long range downturn, but tell that to the hospital morgue. The last few weeks have been the darkest for Oklahoma families stricken with covid-19, the virus that came from Wuhan, China. 184 Oklahoma deaths to confirmed Covid patients occurred just this week, and it's only Thursday. Last spring it took well over a month for Oklahoma to go from one death to 184. This is the time to console and comfort. A time to drop off a warm meal to a bereaved family. This is a time to share family memories and words of tribute. This is a terrible time for grandchildren to say good bye to grandpa or grandma. But sometimes it's also an orphaned home, or a widow's loneliness. And dare we mention the agony of burying a son or daughter? perhaps in their prime of life? Let's make sure we have our neighbor's phone numbers, & give them phone calls if we haven't seen them at the mailbox. Let's rise up to the character and legacy of the generations we're having to memorialize this month. Spring is coming. Let's get thru this winter of death, together. |  Posted at the Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation. Death statistics lag a few weeks behind testing numbers. |
| Oklahoma's medical infrastructure proved largely very capable in this pandemic. Fatality rates were among the lowest in the nation for the entire year of battling this very infectious new strain. Oklahoma's economy faired better than many other states, & our people largely stayed free and responsible. We proved that distancing works, and we proved that masks were more marginal. In early December our health dept. showed that municipalities with a govt. mandate actually had a higher covid spread rate than cities that trusted to people to govern themselves. |  The worst part of dying during the pandemic, was that families grieved alone. Large funerals were discouraged. |
