State Health Department Urges Oklahomans To Get Vaccinated

The Oklahoma State Department of Health is making a new vaccination push as COVID-19 cases rise across the state.

"Getting vaccinated is more important now than ever," said Dr. Lance Frye, Commissioner of Health.

This afternoon, the department held a COVID-19 update as the state reported more than 2,800 new cases on Friday, numbers similar to what was last reported in February.

"Over the past few weeks, we've been seeing a significant increase in COVID-19 due largely to the more contagious delta variant," said Frye.

Commissioner of Health Dr. Lance Frye says over that time, health leaders have been meeting with hospitals about response efforts and as part of the ongoing hospital surge plan first implemented last year, they've issued new emergency rules for hospitals reporting data.

"This included enabling hospitals to report a total number of COVID positive patients that are re-infected or who have breakthrough infections," said Frye.

Labs will also now have to submit at least 10 percent of specimens for genomic sequencing to give the state a better idea of variants circulating in the state. Frye says health leaders are also are encourage masking in situations where Oklahomans may feel uncomfortable, but that it's still a personal choice and he believes the best way to get past the pandemic is to get more Oklahomans vaccinated.

The department reports 50 percent of all Oklahomans have now received at least one dose and in the past month, they've seen a 121 percent increase in Oklahomans getting the shot. We're also getting new breakthrough infection numbers from the state.

That's the percentage of vaccinated Oklahomans who have contracted COVID-19. The state says that number is 3,269. To put that in comparison, 1.6 million people are fully vaccinated in the state.

For a breakdown of breakthrough infections by vaccine type, CLICK HERE.