The number of coronavirus hospitalizations in Oklahoma on Wednesday topped 1,500 for the first time since January, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, as the highly contagious delta variant spreads in the state. There were 1,578 people hospitalized in the stated due to the virus, including 416 in intensive care.

The most recent weekly COVID report from the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) was released Wednesday and includes information from the week of August 15 through August 21. It shows Oklahoma currently ranks 26th in the nation in the number of total COVID cases reported, and 12th in cumulative incidents, or per capita. The weekly OSDH report shows 57.1 percent of people in Seminole County over 12-years-old have had at least one dose of the vaccine. The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 42.6% of Oklahomans are fully vaccinated and 52% have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Nationwide, 51.6% of the population is fully vaccinated and 60.9% have received at least one dose, according to the CDC.

Statewide there were 14,798 new cases of COVID reported over the week compared to 15,490 new cases reported last week, which is a decrease of 4.5 percent over the week. A total of 30,986 cases hospitalized in Oklahoma since the pandemic began, which is 5.8 percent of the positive cases.

Unfortunately, there were 136 COVID related deaths over the past week compared to 82 COVID related deaths last week, bringing the total number of deaths from COVID in Oklahoma up to 7,812. There were 14,545 recovered cases, a 15.2 percent increase from 12,490 recovered last week, and bringing the total number of recoveries up to 499,290.

The daily update released by the OSDH on Thursday, August 26 showed that the total number of cases had risen to 539,074 since the weekly report was released. The August 26 report showed 4,152 new cases, bringing the 7-day average up to 2,507. There were 21,584 active cases, bringing the total number of cases up to 539,074. The total number of COVID related deaths reported by the CDC/ NCHS rose to 9,044.

According to the OSDH weekly report, 33 percent of the COVID cases in Oklahoma were persons aged 50 and over, with 53 percent of those cases being female. 95 percent of COVID deaths have been persons aged 50 or over, and 56 percent of these victims were males. The average age of COVID cases was 40 years old, and the average of individuals who died was 74. Years. The youngest case was less than a year old and the youngest case to die was less than 15 years old. The oldest individual to die was over 100 years old. In total 3,068,566 vaccine doses have been administered in Oklahoma.