Stillwater Medical Center Declares “Disaster,” Demand for Testing Still Strong in Tulsa

The state is reporting the highest one-day total of new COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. The state health department reported more than 10,502 new cases Thursday. 

More than 1,300 people are in the hospital right now. There have been 53 additional virus-related deaths reported in the past 24 hours. At Stillwater Medical Center Thursday, healthcare leaders declared a "disaster."  

 Last fall the center set up medical tents outside to care for patients. The center does not have tents up now, but it is still sounding the alarm. 

 In a Facebook post, Stillwater Medical Center shared it is "...seeing a record number of patients daily which has resulted in our Emergency Department, our inpatient units, including ICU, and both of our urgent care locations to be at or over maximum capacity." 

It's not just the patients in the hospital -- Stillwater Medical said a record number of its healthcare workers are out with COVID, too. 

The hospital said declaring an emergency allows it to "...consolidate resources, implement crisis strategies, and re-evaluate procedure schedules...." to help with staffing needs. In Tulsa, St. Francis said hospitalizations continue to trend upward, with 258 COVID patients across all of its locations. 18 of them are children. 

St. Francis said it is averaging 800 tests a day in the last week, at its Broken Arrow testing site on Elm.  

Meanwhile, at a testing site near 91st and Mingo, there was a shorter line. Near 51st and Peoria, more people waited at another testing site, wanting to know if they have the virus.  

St. Francis said 83 percent of COVID patients in its hospitals are not vaccinated.