COVID-19 hospitalizations appear to be leveling off in Oklahoma, but hospital stays are longer due to the delta variant of the virus, health officials said Tuesday.

According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH), the threeday average of new hospitalizations fell from 1,518 one week ago to 1,352 on Tuesday. OSDH reported a seven-day average of 2,114 new cases daily, down from 2,709 last week.

Despite the decline, the average hospital stay increased from five to six days in January to 10-11 days currently, and ICU stays rose from 10-11 days to 15-20, said Dr. David Kendrick, chair of Medical Informatics at the University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine.

According to the latest OSDH report, there are 119 active cases of COVID-19 in Seminole County, with 85 deaths attributed to the virus. Statewide, there were 18,742 active cases as of Tuesday.

The Centers for Disease Control says vaccines are effective at helping protect against severe disease and death from variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 currently circulating, including the Delta variant.

Those who are fully vaccinated can resume many activities as they did before the pandemic but should wear a mask indoors in public if they are in an area of substantial or high transmission to maximize protection from the Delta variant and possibly spreading it to others. The federal government is providing the vaccine free of charge to all people living in the United States, regardless of their immigration or health insurance status.