Thanks. Even though Locke Supply just moved to a newly constructed store in Stillwater, I probably won't be going there the next time I need a hot water tank.

The Locke on 36th/May had everybody wearing masks (customers and employees) when I went in for an HVAC safety switch and filters a couple of weeks ago, but also not very many customers (maybe 10 in the whole store), so plenty of space between everybody.

1,164 new cases today; that is an unprecedented 6 days in a row over 1,000.

7-day rolling average at a new all-time high: 1,108

212 new cases in OK County.

Statewide hospitalizations now 628 (this number is always a day behind). That is a 25% increase in just one week.

14 reported deaths, the most in almost a month.

My kids school had a positive result in 2nd grade, so that particular class is now in quarantine. For some reason nobody on the “open up 5 days, no masks” crowd is talking about this of course.

1,164 new cases today; that is an unprecedented 6 days in a row over 1,000.

7-day rolling average at a new all-time high: 1,108

212 new cases in OK County.

Statewide hospitalizations now 628 (this number is always a day behind). That is a 25% increase in just one week.

14 reported deaths, the most in almost a month.

I am guessing it will be a while under we are under 1000 per day now. We are spreading like crazy now.

Interesting to see what Stitt will say at 1pm conference today. I am guessing something along the lines that the numbers are just because it is spreading in prison and Oklahoma is fine.

Our percentage of cases in the <18 year group is rising fast. If we go ahead and exclude the prison cases, that percentage will be even worse and highlight the fact that schools are a big driving force right now.

Mayor Holt just posted on his facebook page. Looks like the spike in Hospitals is probably due from Labor Day so not shocking. The shocking thing to me is over 100 new hospitalization on the weekend. I would imagine most of them were ER visits as most doctors offices are not open.

I think we have been expecting this rise for the last two weeks, as hospitalizations, and then deaths, are lagging indicators. So, literally everyone here except our resident COVID DENIER POSSE has been expecting this completely predictable result that we have been predicting since cases began spiking again.........wait for it........when people went back to school and football and thought, "Oh why the hell don't we LIVE a little and get back to our lives?"

So, expect the deaths to rise and keep rising through the fall.

One question I have regarding hospitalizations: when the mayor reports hospitalizations in OKC, is he reporting all patients hospitalized for Covid in OKC, or only OKC residents who are hospitalized in OKC?

I would think all patients. The decline of rural hospitals will drive many folks into the metro, and many of the chain hospitals are build on a business model of treating simple cases in the rural hospitals and feeding specialty care cases into the city.

I am guessing it will be a while under we are under 1000 per day now. We are spreading like crazy now.

Interesting to see what Stitt will say at 1pm conference today. I am guessing something along the lines that the numbers are just because it is spreading in prison and Oklahoma is fine.

Will he order more hydrochloroquine for the Okie stockpile? It would have been just as effective to light $2 million on fire in a bonfire on the Capitol South Lawn.

It's all so completely predictable.

Which also means there are ways to change course, it's just nobody -- especially our leaders -- want to do it.

Then everyone acts surprised when absolutely everything happens just as scientists said it would.


There is no magic to this; it's all science, logic and common sense.

The people that keep looking anywhere else for answers and theories will go down in history as huge culprits in what is turning out to be a historic tragedy that could have largely been prevented.

These are the consequences of science deniers (creationists, anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists and the politicians that fan those flames) grasping for anything that provides answers they want, and in the process rejecting the empirical truth yielded by the scientific method.

But thoughts, prayers, and God are going to make this all better! :rolleyes:

Time for a temporary Facebook picture!

It's all so completely predictable.

Which also means there are ways to change course, it's just nobody -- especially our leaders -- want to do it.

Then everyone acts surprised when absolutely everything happens just as scientists said it would.


There is no magic to this; it's all science, logic and common sense.

The people that keep looking anywhere else for answers and theories will go down in history as huge culprits in what is turning out to be a historic tragedy that could have largely been prevented.

These are the consequences of science deniers (creationists, anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists and the politicians that fan those flames) grasping for anything that provides answers they want, and in the process rejecting the empirical truth yielded by the scientific method.

16471

I think I read that the leader of the health committee in the legislature is a science denying anti-vaxxer. It is a cruel joke. I have never seen such incompetent government on the state and national scale. I also read that billions of dollars that were intended to be used for PPE by the Feds went to defense contractors and other miscellaneous unrelated industry insiders.

It's gross. Our government has been broken -- and made broke.

I think I read that the leader of the health committee in the legislature is a science denying anti-vaxxer. It is a cruel joke. I have never seen such incompetent government on the state and national scale. I also read that billions of dollars that were intended to be used for PPE by the Feds went to defense contractors and other miscellaneous unrelated industry insiders.

It's gross. Our government has been broken -- and made broke.

It's interesting because you can chalk our local experience and overall national experience to two bafoons (who shall remain nameless). However, other states are handling this so much better than us. I would think that south eastern states would be consistently worse than us, but I was pleasantly surprised to see mandatory mask mandates in pretty much every town we stopped in outside of florida. Perhaps these states have stronger local leadership than we do. We are blessed I tell ya! BLESSED!!! lol

16471

Boy, isn't that the truth.

Ouch. According to the press conference our hospitals were under reporting over the last few weeks. https://twitter.com/KOCODillon/status/1308471954949767168?s=20

We all new numbers were going up cause we were going to start counting rapid test. I think many people have under estimated just how many rapid test are happening. Maybe not at first but now Prisons, Colleges, schools and Businesses that care or want their workers back. People that can't return to work until the get a test are more likely to get a rapid test now also. I have heard people being in line or having to wait a while to get a rapid test done.

Well, this explains why the hospitalization rate has remained flat:

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/covid092220a.jpg

I am tired of politicians constantly spinning things to cover up their mismanagement -- and then not being held accountable.

They are forever cherry-picking stats at a point in time, then conveniently never mentioning them again when the same numbers start to make them look bad.

A great case in point was how Stitt crowed about having low per capita cases. Now that is no longer the case, he moves on to some other BS, which will soon start to look bad and then will never bring it up again:

Dillon Richards
@KOCODillon
·
7m
While "every death is regrettable," Stitt says we have the 14th-lowest death rate per capita. He says per capita deaths are 60% lower than the national average according to CDC numbers

I am tired of politicians constantly spinning things to cover up their mismanagement -- and then not being held accountable.

They are forever cherry-picking stats at a point in time, then conveniently never mentioning them again when the same numbers start to make them look bad.

A great case in point was how Stitt crowed about having low per capita cases. Now that is no longer the case, he moves on to some other BS, which will soon start to look bad and then will never bring it up again:

Dillon Richards
@KOCODillon
·
7m
While "every death is regrettable," Stitt says we have the 14th-lowest death rate per capita. He says per capita deaths are 60% lower than the national average according to CDC numbers

It's all fun and games until every stat looks bad. We will get there if we keep on this path.

At least now we have forced him to actually stop covering up the White House reports, so people making decisions can cut through his BS and see for themselves.

Of course, Stitt himself refuses to follow the guidelines or even to encourage municipalities, businesses and schools to follow them.

... I also read that billions of dollars that were intended to be used for PPE by the Feds went to defense contractors and other miscellaneous unrelated industry insiders. ...

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=45607&p=1139754#post1139754

Well, this explains why the hospitalization rate has remained flat:

HTTP://www.okctalk.com/images/pete/covid092220a.jpg

This makes a little more sense. I never understood why they didn't jump around a little more. It was so hard for me to believe the same amount was coming in than leaving. I would think there would be at least a difference of 10 a day if not more either way.

We all new numbers were going up cause we were going to start counting rapid test. I think many people have under estimated just how many rapid test are happening. Maybe not at first but now Prisons, Colleges, schools and Businesses that care or want their workers back. People that can't return to work until the get a test are more likely to get a rapid test now also. I have heard people being in line or having to wait a while to get a rapid test done.
Look back some pages ago where I brought up the additional numbers because of rapid tests. Someone had the number that would have been added from March until then and it wasn't nearly as high as I expected. Yes, the current totals and average case data would be lower without rapid tests but not as much as I had thought.

FYI, yesterday Oklahoma was #4 nationally in the number of new cases per capita. Amazing Stitt didn't include that info in today's presser.

Only Kansas, North Dakota and Rhode Island were higher.


Not all states have reported today but you can expect we will be way up there again.

We all new numbers were going up cause we were going to start counting rapid test. I think many people have under estimated just how many rapid test are happening. Maybe not at first but now Prisons, Colleges, schools and Businesses that care or want their workers back. People that can't return to work until the get a test are more likely to get a rapid test now also. I have heard people being in line or having to wait a while to get a rapid test done.

All that means is we are finally counting them. They are still positives. The rapid test removes some barriers to getting tested, so, more people get tested and we find out about more infections.

If we had a leader with a brain, we would be able to use this access to testing to limit the spread of the virus, but we don't, so we are probably screwed.

Here's a link to the story about the complete mismanagement of federal PPE money.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/09/22/covid-funds-pentagon/

So when will I get to work from home again? I have only been back to the office 2 days and already am tired of all the extra steps and the thought of possibly catching this thing. I definitely feel for those in front line positions and jobs that actually need to physically be present to do their jobs.

So when will I get to work from home again? I have only been back to the office 2 days and already am tired of all the extra steps and the thought of possibly catching this thing. I definitely feel for those in front line positions and jobs that actually need to physically be present to do their jobs.

There's quite literally an outbreak at my employer and workplace, and they have told us nothing about it. In fact, an employee randomly came across the outbreak on the state's (CO) official COVID tracking and tracing system. But not one peep from management.

This country, top to bottom, is ill-equipped to handle this. It's downright dangerous.

There's quite literally an outbreak at my employer and workplace, and they have told us nothing about it. In fact, an employee randomly came across the outbreak on the state's (CO) official COVID tracking and tracing system. But not one peep from management.

This country, top to bottom, is ill equipped to handle this. It's outright dangerous.

One early decision was that employers were not required to notify employees and customers.

Another demonstration of how business continues to be put in front of people.

Where are the antibody test . What ever happen to testing for antibodies. You would think by now we would be doing just as much of that testing. If you have the antibodies and I know we don't know how long they last but if you have them wouldn't you feel a little better about going to work or going out to eat. My lab wanted $100 for the test. I passed but thought it would be easier and quicker to get results back than a covid test. With so many showing little to no symptoms you would think this would almost be an easier way to find out how many have truly have had covid.

One early decision was that employers were not required to notify employees and customers.

That is so irresponsible and also helps explain why Rs have been insisting on limiting liability for businesses as part of the next relief plan.

Where are the antibody test . What ever happen to testing for antibodies. You would think by now we would be doing just as much of that testing. If you have the antibodies and I know we don't know how long they last but if you have them wouldn't you feel a little better about going to work or going out to eat. My lab wanted $100 for the test. I passed but thought it would be easier and quicker to get results back than a covid test. With so many showing little to no symptoms you would think this would almost be an easier way to find out how many have truly have had covid.
Been here done this. A simple search will result in lots of antibody test options. And as I said many times I had it and tested very high for antibodies. I had very minor symptoms. I still did everything like I had no antibodies. Can't be too safe with this virus. After about 3 months and 4 plasma donations my antibodies dropped to a point that I can't donate plasma. So it is limited as far as duration.

Where are the antibody test . What ever happen to testing for antibodies. You would think by now we would be doing just as much of that testing. If you have the antibodies and I know we don't know how long they last but if you have them wouldn't you feel a little better about going to work or going out to eat. My lab wanted $100 for the test. I passed but thought it would be easier and quicker to get results back than a covid test. With so many showing little to no symptoms you would think this would almost be an easier way to find out how many have truly have had covid.
I got results from my PCR test within 24 hours from IMMY Labs and all for the grand total of $0.00. No there was no insurance involved.

I am tired of politicians constantly spinning things to cover up their mismanagement -- and then not being held accountable.

They are forever cherry-picking stats at a point in time, then conveniently never mentioning them again when the same numbers start to make them look bad.

A great case in point was how Stitt crowed about having low per capita cases. Now that is no longer the case, he moves on to some other BS, which will soon start to look bad and then will never bring it up again:

Dillon Richards
@KOCODillon
·
7m
While "every death is regrettable," Stitt says we have the 14th-lowest death rate per capita. He says per capita deaths are 60% lower than the national average according to CDC numbers


Unfortunately CDC #'s are not credible due to the "sharpie" influence exerted by HHS. What was once the gold standard is now more like mercury.

Unfortunately CDC #'s are not credible due to the "sharpie" influence exerted by HHS. What was once the gold standard is now more like mercury.

There is no evidence to that and besides, it has very little to with my central point.


We should not be playing into the ridiculous idea that no information is to be trusted.

Where are the antibody test . What ever happen to testing for antibodies. You would think by now we would be doing just as much of that testing. If you have the antibodies and I know we don't know how long they last but if you have them wouldn't you feel a little better about going to work or going out to eat. My lab wanted $100 for the test. I passed but thought it would be easier and quicker to get results back than a covid test. With so many showing little to no symptoms you would think this would almost be an easier way to find out how many have truly have had covid.

You can get a free antibody test at OBI.

https://obi.org/about-us/newsroom/oklahoma-blood-institute-announces-covid-19-antibody-tests-for-blood-donors/2331/

I am tired of politicians constantly spinning things to cover up their mismanagement -- and then not being held accountable.

They are forever cherry-picking stats at a point in time, then conveniently never mentioning them again when the same numbers start to make them look bad.


It's fascinating how those that politized it in the first place are now the ones that look like idiots. And not even for the way they managed it, but for the way that they politized it.

Somehow, in this day and age, pretending something isn't real so they don't have to actually do anything about it is a more advantageous political strategy than actually solving a problem in the community.

They deserve accountability for this, of course, but the fact that open denial of reality is a somewhat effective political strategy is almost more reflective of the culture than a failure of individual leadership.

Pretty much all of the politicians, or "leaders", if you will, that have taken the deny-and-do-nothing approach were well known to be science deniers and/or of conspiratorial mind before any of this. In a very real way, this is what a lot of people wanted... and some, apparently, still want. Not that anyone wished for a deadly pandemic, specifically, but that they wanted these people to operate with a disregard of scientific approach and empirical data when they first nominated them.

This is basically the same thing as seeking out a doctor that will disregard your lab results, if it they don't agree with what you wanted the results to be.

You can get a free antibody test at OBI.

https://obi.org/about-us/newsroom/oklahoma-blood-institute-announces-covid-19-antibody-tests-for-blood-donors/2331/

I can't donate for health reasons. I wish there was more "mobile stations" where you could get a antibody test like you can a covid test.

Unfortunately CDC #'s are not credible due to the "sharpie" influence exerted by HHS. What was once the gold standard is now more like mercury.
Actually I remember much more of the CDC posting numbers or guidances and the administration saying the CDC is wrong.

I can't donate for health reasons. I wish there was more "mobile stations" where you could get a antibody test like you can a covid test.
Just search "okc antibody testing". Lots of places come up. Many drive thru.

Oklahoma was #4 again yesterday in terms of new cases per capita.

Only North Dakota, South Dakota (gee, wonder what caused this?) and Missouri were higher.

Well I knew it had to happen eventually. We have two buildings with about 40 employees in each. A guy in the other building from where my office is felt bad, got tested and is positive. Most of that building is in quarantine.

1,089 new cases today, an unprecedented 7 straight days over 1,000.

7-day rolling average now 1,125, another record high.

174 new cases in OK County.

612 hospitalizations statewide.

8 additional reported deaths.

1,089 new cases today, an unprecedented 7 straight days over 1,000.

7-day rolling average now 1,125, another record high.

174 new cases in OK County.

612 hospitalizations statewide.

8 additional reported deaths.

Are we testing more or is that been about the same? What now is the average age? Is it cause we are testing more teenagers? I'm sure the number of cases are really going up in that age range as I'm sure some of them were not getting tested in the summer but now that they are in school and playing sports they are probably being tested?

Are we testing more or is that been about the same? What now is the average age? Is it cause we are testing more teenagers? I'm sure the number of cases are really going up in that age range as I'm sure some of them were not getting tested in the summer but now that they are in school and playing sports they are probably being tested?

You seemingly ask the same questions over and over. We are not testing more. We have an infection rate over 10%. Cases are going up. We are in the second wave now; it is obvious.

If you are on Facebook I would recommend following Oklahoma Source. They report the number of pediatric cases daily, Yes, more teens and young people are getting it, because they are in school and hanging out with their friends and playing sports. But the increase is not limited to that. As an example, today there were 125 new pediatric cases out of our 1089.

This means that nearly 90% of today's new cases WERE NOT from kids and teenagers.

You also can just read the Oklahoman's daily report or visit OSDH. It breaks down the cases by age range. This is widely available information. Not to be a jerk, but just asking the same questions over and over when the information is easily accessible gets rather tiring.

Remember: nearly 100% of these pediatric cases will ultimately expose a parent, sibling, friend, grandparent, teacher, etc. So pediatric cases do not happen in isolation and children do spread the disease.

The state is in the second wave now. This one is already exceeding the outbreak we saw in July through early August, and the hard-headedness of so many Oklahomans (even willful delusion) indicates this is going to get way, way worse. I think it will get bad enough we will see a second shutdown, because stubborn stupidity and rudderless leadership.

You seemingly ask the same questions over and over. We are not testing more. We have an infection rate over 10%. Cases are going up. We are in the second wave now; it is obvious.

If you are on Facebook I would recommend following Oklahoma Source. They report the number of pediatric cases daily, Yes, more teens and young people are getting it, because they are in school and hanging out with their friends and playing sports. But the increase is not limited to that. As an example, today there were 125 new pediatric cases out of our 1089.

You also can just read the Oklahoman's daily report or visit OSDH. It breaks down the cases by age range. This is widely available information. Not to be a jerk, but just asking the same questions over and over when the information is easily accessible gets rather tiring.

Remember: nearly 100% of these pediatric cases will ultimately expose a parent, sibling, friend, grandparent, teacher, etc. So pediatric cases do not happen in isolation and children do spread the disease.

The state is in the second wave now. This one is already exceeding the outbreak we saw in July through early August, and the hard-headedness of so many Oklahomans (even willful delusion) indicates this is going to get way, way worse. I think it will get bad enough we will see a second shutdown, because stubborn stupidity and rudderless leadership.

Actually, we are technically testing more. Remember, they added in the rapid test results into the daily numbers a week or so ago. While we may not be running any more tests in the grand scheme, we are actually including more tests in the counts than we were before.

It’s not surprising to see our numbers above 1000/day with the inclusion of the rapid tests.

Actually, we are technically testing more. Remember, they added in the rapid test results into the daily numbers a week or so ago. While we may not be running any more tests in the grand scheme, we are actually including more tests in the counts than we were before.

It’s not surprising to see our numbers above 1000/day with the inclusion of the rapid tests.

How many additional tests / day did that add? Just curious. Regardless, the infection rate did not go down so the increase in numbers of specimens did not lower the infection percentage, meaning we are merely discovering more infections that existed that we were not counting. This basically means we have been undercounting cases for months (and that is likely because the rapid tests were less reliable at one time).

We have been around 9% positive rate for some time. \

"Today, OU Chief COVID Officer Dr. Dale Bratzler said the current spike is driven by universities reopening, Labor Day, gatherings, prison outbreaks and the addition of antigen tests to the numbers. He also said he's seeing increasing spread in rural areas."

https://twitter.com/KOCODillon/status/1308801584864940033?s=20

How many additional tests / day did that add? Just curious. Regardless, the infection rate did not go down so the increase in numbers of specimens did not lower the infection percentage, meaning we are merely discovering more infections that existed that we were not counting. This basically means we have been undercounting cases for months (and that is likely because the rapid tests were less reliable at one time).
I don't know what actually added to total results but we averaged 7311 reported results per day in July, 8161 per day in August and 10,030 per day so far in September.

Are the reported hospitalizations just ICU or all hospitalizations?

Are the reported hospitalizations just ICU or all hospitalizations?

General hospitalizations with some subset in the ICU.

Are the reported hospitalizations just ICU or all hospitalizations?

All.

You seemingly ask the same questions over and over. We are not testing more. We have an infection rate over 10%. Cases are going up. We are in the second wave now; it is obvious.

If you are on Facebook I would recommend following Oklahoma Source. They report the number of pediatric cases daily, Yes, more teens and young people are getting it, because they are in school and hanging out with their friends and playing sports. But the increase is not limited to that. As an example, today there were 125 new pediatric cases out of our 1089.

This means that nearly 90% of today's new cases WERE NOT from kids and teenagers.

You also can just read the Oklahoman's daily report or visit OSDH. It breaks down the cases by age range. This is widely available information. Not to be a jerk, but just asking the same questions over and over when the information is easily accessible gets rather tiring.

Remember: nearly 100% of these pediatric cases will ultimately expose a parent, sibling, friend, grandparent, teacher, etc. So pediatric cases do not happen in isolation and children do spread the disease.

The state is in the second wave now. This one is already exceeding the outbreak we saw in July through early August, and the hard-headedness of so many Oklahomans (even willful delusion) indicates this is going to get way, way worse. I think it will get bad enough we will see a second shutdown, because stubborn stupidity and rudderless leadership.

Someone on this board needs to get a grip. Damn just asking a question that i don't think i have every asked or asked in months. Things do change you know. I was wondering how many more teenagers are testing positive now that they are back in school vs the summer time. Also are the number of rapid test being counted. I know if they are positive they are being counted but are the test themselves being counted as a test. Ou football is testing what every day or every other day are all them test being counted? Damn get a grip.

Are Oklahoma's percentages better or worse than the national average?

The US govt last week updated the survival rates (i.e., IF infected) for Covid19:

0-19 99.997%
20-49 99.98%
50-69 99.5%
70+ 94.6%


https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/planning-scenarios.html

Someone on this board needs to get a grip. Damn just asking a question that i don't think i have every asked or asked in months. Things do change you know. I was wondering how many more teenagers are testing positive now that they are back in school vs the summer time. Also are the number of rapid test being counted. I know if they are positive they are being counted but are the test themselves being counted as a test. Ou football is testing what every day or every other day are all them test being counted? Damn get a grip.

I'm sorry if I came across as rude. Not my intention. My comments were too personal. Please accept my apology. I think everyone is stressed out by this right now (and if they aren't, there is probably something wrong there). In the future, I will try to not be so knee-jerk in my response. If we were talking in person I'm sure this would have been fine. It's obviously hard to tell tone in text. Again, I'm sorry.

As to your question about teenagers and preteens, yes, they represent about 11% of the new cases. That means of course that 89% of the new cases are not preteens or teenagers, although I think we could easily surmise that many of those kids are spreading to their parents and caregivers and teachers.

Non hepa filters rated MERV-13 can catch most viruses, but are more expensive.


Actually, we are technically testing more. Remember, they added in the rapid test results into the daily numbers a week or so ago. While we may not be running any more tests in the grand scheme, we are actually including more tests in the counts than we were before.

It’s not surprising to see our numbers above 1000/day with the inclusion of the rapid tests.

Are we really back to the discredited "we have more sick people because we test more" craziness? If anything, we should be concerned about all we don't test and know about who are going about spreading it in the general population that will lead to more sickness and more death.

I'm sorry if I came across as rude. Not my intention. My comments were too personal. Please accept my apology. I think everyone is stressed out by this right now (and if they aren't, there is probably something wrong there). In the future, I will try to not be so knee-jerk in my response. If we were talking in person I'm sure this would have been fine. It's obviously hard to tell tone in text. Again, I'm sorry.

As to your question about teenagers and preteens, yes, they represent about 11% of the new cases. That means of course that 89% of the new cases are not preteens or teenagers, although I think we could easily surmise that many of those kids are spreading to their parents and caregivers and teachers.

You're fine I don't hold grudges and I came back a little snappy too I really was just wondering if things have changed in the testing department that's all. With more and more rapid testing I was just wondering if that was adding to total test which it seems to have but yes we still at a high rate

Actually, we are technically testing more. Remember, they added in the rapid test results into the daily numbers a week or so ago. While we may not be running any more tests in the grand scheme, we are actually including more tests in the counts than we were before.

It’s not surprising to see our numbers above 1000/day with the inclusion of the rapid tests.

Again, I really don't think the rapid tests are responsible for most of this increase.

As I wrote here (https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=45625&page=273&p=1137941#post1137941), when the OSDH announced they'd be including rapid tests they cited 5,000 positives from rapid tests that had not yet been included. At that point the official total was around 67,000 -- so up to that point rapid tests accounted for around 7% of positives. The fact that we are steadily increasing the 7-day average at this point really points to something other than the inclusion of rapid testing being at play here....

Again, I really don't think the rapid tests are responsible for most of this increase.

As I wrote here (https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=45625&page=273&p=1137941#post1137941), when the OSDH announced they'd be including rapid tests they cited 5,000 positives from rapid tests that had not yet been included. At that point the official total was around 67,000 -- so up to that point rapid tests accounted for around 7% of positives. The fact that we are steadily increasing the 7-day average at this point really points to something other than the inclusion of rapid testing being at play here....

This is what I suspected, but failed to put in words. Regardless, including the rapid tests in our numbers only further verifies that we are an orange / red state in Covid cases, growing weekly, as is also validated by increased hospitalizations and deaths.

I'm curious about the comparison of number of cases between Okla. and Tulsa counties. All summer they were neck and neck with sometimes Tulsa county having more. (which was odd based on Okla county having larger population). Now in a relatively short period of time Okla county has surged far ahead in the number of cases. What has caused this change? Both Tulsa and Okc have mask mandates and the school situations are very similar.