Chief COVID Officer Says Oklahoma Cases Are Steadily Decreasing

COVID-19 numbers are steadily going down in Oklahoma as the state reaches one million positive cases.

The chief COVID officer, Dr. Dale Bratzler, said COVID numbers are still high but they're going down slowly.

He said vaccines are still the best way to move on and go back to normal life.

Dr. Bratzler said there have been seven studies done showing people who are vaccinated and boosted are a lot less likely to go to the hospital or die from COVID.

He said that also confirms the safety of the vaccines that were rolled out almost a year and a half ago.

Studies show unvaccinated people are about 97 times more likely to die from COVID, according to Dr. Bratzler.

He said about 1,700 people in Oklahoma are in the hospital with COVID and about 340 of those people are in intensive care.

Dr. Bratzler said lower numbers could be partially due to testing sites being closed during the winter storm, but he still feels confident things are starting to improve.

"Cases in Oklahoma have come down considerably, and I feel comfortable because hospitalizations are down," said Dr. Bratzler. "The number of people that we as a large employer have had to put in isolation or quarantine has come down significantly."

Dr. Bratzler also mentioned a new study that shows people who have had COVID are at a higher risk for heart problems, but said it's still too early to know the long-term effects of Omicron.