Very pleasantly surprised to see this opinion piece by Congressman Frank Lucas, a pretty conservative guy. He basically takes Stitt behind the woodshed without mentioning him by name. But, it's clear who he is speaking to as he issues a challenge for "state leadership" on COVID-19, including a mask mandate.

https://oklahoman.com/article/5676892/rep-frank-lucas-as-covid-19-winter-approaches-oklahoma-must-act

His district is quite rural. If Stillwater Medical Center represents most Oklahoma rural hospitals by being full of patients in the covid ward with some waiting in the emergency room for a bed, then maybe the heads of such hospitals should try pleading to the governor to institute a state wide mask requirement. But their local city councils need to listen to them, too. I can't comprehend why local city councils would not listen, unless they're afraid of a recall vote. The entire Stillwater City Council wasn't afraid of that.

3,732 new cases, 7 day average up to yet another high.

16 deaths
1,604 hospitalizations
432 in ICU

We're still heading up, and Thanksgiving is going to make the next couple weeks even worse

3,724 new cases today; 7-day rolling average now 3,274, a new all-time high.

16 additional deaths; 7-day rolling average 15.7 down from yesterday'2 17.1 which was an all-time high.

Hospitializations are 1,604 (+38), an all-time high.

ICU is 432 (-14); down from the all-time high of 450 a few days ago.

I just found out my friend of 24 years passed away from the damn virus today, we always go to Thunder-Magic games every year since the Thunder moved here and now it will not be the same anymore without my friend who is a Thunder fan and I am a Magic fan, it really hurts and it sucks, damn you virus!

So in just the last couple days I've learned of a high school classmate that died of the virus and a daughter of another classmate that is in ICU and not doing well. I feel really bad for the mother classmate because she's one of thought pretty that life has just crapped on in general and now this. And yet I keep hearing commercials and such for normal events and such as life just going on as usual because "it's important that life goes on". Except of course for those that the virus changes forever or ends life for.

His district is quite rural. If Stillwater Medical Center represents most Oklahoma rural hospitals by being full of patients in the covid ward with some waiting in the emergency room for a bed, then maybe the heads of such hospitals should try pleading to the governor to institute a state wide mask requirement. But their local city councils need to listen to them, too. I can't comprehend why local city councils would not listen, unless they're afraid of a recall vote. The entire Stillwater City Council wasn't afraid of that.

It seems fairly obvious that his comments were primarily directed at Kevin Stitt, and then, secondarily, at the local government morons in Enid, Woodward, Alva, and other places in his congressional district that refused to pass a mask mandate. Of course, he didn't speak up until the pandemic has raged on for 10 months and until the presidential election was decided.

I just found out my friend of 24 years passed away from the damn virus today, we always go to Thunder-Magic games every year since the Thunder moved here and now it will not be the same anymore without my friend who is a Thunder fan and I am a Magic fan, it really hurts and it sucks, damn you virus!

I'm very sorry for your loss. It's a dark time.

So in just the last couple days I've learned of a high school classmate that died of the virus and a daughter of another classmate that is in ICU and not doing well. I feel really bad for the mother classmate because she's one of thought pretty that life has just crapped on in general and now this. And yet I keep hearing commercials and such for normal events and such as life just going on as usual because "it's important that life goes on". Except of course for those that the virus changes forever or ends life for.

There are a lot of difficult choices to be made. Obviously life can't be normal until vaccinations are given but life does have to go on, people have to work, rent paid and groceries bought. Just wear a damn mask!

I read a terrifying story today about a man who needed emergency abdominal surgery in Texas. He waited in the ER for nine hours to get admitted. The hospital tried to get him placed in an ER anywhere within about 500 miles. He died while waiting to be admitted. NOTE: we haven't hit the worst of flu season and we are nowhere near the peak of this current spike.

I'm very sorry for your loss. It's a dark time.

Thank you, it is really rough

The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported on Wednesday the ninth death due to COVID-19 in Stillwater. According to OSDH, the death was a man in the 65 or older age group.

Stillwater currently has 400 active cases. Oklahoma State University, in its weekly COVID Dashboard, reported 262 active cases from University Health Services testing and self reporting as of Nov. 22. OSU performed nearly 1,700 tests last week, with 98 testing positive. The OSU Athletics department reported 4 positive cases.

Meanwhile, Friday morning, Stillwater Medical Center was enjoying some relief:

http://okie.world/photos/icunov25.jpg

There are a lot of difficult choices to be made. Obviously life can't be normal until vaccinations are given but life does have to go on, people have to work, rent paid and groceries bought. Just wear a damn mask!
I completely understand rent, food, etc. But gun shows, pool and spa shows, car shows and on and on are NOT a requirement of life and could be done without for awhile.

I completely understand rent, food, etc. But gun shows, pool and spa shows, car shows and on and on are NOT a requirement of life and could be done without for awhile.

You ever stop to consider that maybe the guns shows, pool and spa shows, and car shows are how some people pay their rent?

You ever stop to consider that maybe the guns shows, pool and spa shows, and car shows are how some people pay their rent?
I know that. But then they could enforce masks and distancing in those events. I've seen pictures from these events and they do not. Therefore they should not be having them. If they're so important to the vendors the vendors could hold the events as safety as possible.

You ever stop to consider that maybe the guns shows, pool and spa shows, and car shows are how some people pay their rent?

Then we need to subsidize folks in industries that can no longer safely function, not force people to risk theirs and their loved one’s health to make ends meet.

I went to a local hospital with a family member who was having surgery. We arrived very early in the morning, so we were among the only people in the patient registration area and I could hear a nurse speaking to two family members of a patient who was on a ventilator. She was explaining that their family member would be removed from the ventilator later that day and was expected to die soon thereafter and because of the situation they would make an exception to their one visitor policy and allow two people to be in the room. The patient’s family had been asking for more people to be allowed in, but the nurse was very patiently explaining that they just couldn’t risk it.

I wonder how many times these nurses have had to give this exact explanation to worried family members. It was sad. And I can’t help but be angry at the ignorant and selfish people who still think this is a joke, including a few people on this forum I remember debating early on because this was “no worse than the flu.” Absurd.

Our system doesn’t value people, only business and profit. We see it argued here just today. There is a reason why the US is one of the few major countries using it instead of this:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_market_economy

It’s not perfect, but it’s much better than any alternative.

lol. You can't possibly have studied health care systems and believe this. I can name a crapload of countries with better health care systems than the U.S. that value patients over pure profits. The way that capitalism interacts with the U.S. health care system is undeniably broken. And it's not even a free market because care is so often determined by lobbying, corporate handouts, and deceptive laws. It benefits the few and often leaves the most vulnerable screwed. A lot of countries have found far better ways to balance markets and care. Health care is just one of those issues where corporations shouldn't be able to maximize profits at any cost.

3,225 new cases today. They didn't report yesterday, so that drops the 7-day rolling average to 2,901.

24 additional deaths (for the last 2 days).

https://www.koco.com/article/we-need-help-mercy-hospital-gives-inside-look-at-covid-19-unit-as-hospitalizations-surge/34790274

Nurses are having to be allowed to work while positives; people are being shipped all over the state if we find any beds at all. Hospitals are full and overflowing and people are dying in hallways. But because our already overtaxed hospitals don’t have 40% covid patients, we are still not in red.

Our hospitals are failing because of the stress, but because of some arbitrary number everything is still “fine”.

3,225 new cases today. They didn't report yesterday, so that drops the 7-day rolling average to 2,901.

24 additional deaths (for the last 2 days).

OSDH reported that today's numbers were actually for Thursday. Saturday's numbers will include both Friday and Saturday numbers. The 7 day average is actually 3,225.


"It is important to note that Friday’s updated data will include cases that would have otherwise been reported on Thursday. Saturday’s dashboard update will include case information that reflect a combined reporting from Friday and Saturday."

I can't help but wonder if the state level response from OSDH is jumbled because of all the leadership changes. If you want to roll out something like contact tracer apps or Covid testing alerts in a pandemic, it helps if you have had consistency in leadership. We've changed commissioners, epidemiologists, as well as some cabinet level health posts. I really wonder how many people died in the state because of bureaucracy. Clear consistent messaging saves lives.

https://www.koco.com/article/we-need-help-mercy-hospital-gives-inside-look-at-covid-19-unit-as-hospitalizations-surge/34790274

Nurses are having to be allowed to work while positives; people are being shipped all over the state if we find any beds at all. Hospitals are full and overflowing and people are dying in hallways. But because our already overtaxed hospitals don’t have 40% covid patients, we are still not in red.

Our hospitals are failing because of the stress, but because of some arbitrary number everything is still “fine”.

Saw somewhere on social media where OKC Mercy was having to use a Guthrie bed and all I could think was, that is not the direction you want healthcare to flow. It needs to go from rural to tertiary centers. If those are overrun and you start moving patients in the opposite direction, bad things happen.

I can't help but wonder if the state level response from OSDH is jumbled because of all the leadership changes. If you want to roll out something like contact tracer apps or Covid testing alerts in a pandemic, it helps if you have had consistency in leadership. We've changed commissioners, epidemiologists, as well as some cabinet level health posts. I really wonder how many people died in the state because of bureaucracy. Clear consistent messaging saves lives.

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/25/938873547/embattled-public-health-workers-leaving-at-steady-and-alarming-rate

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/25/938873547/embattled-public-health-workers-leaving-at-steady-and-alarming-rateI saw a simple story on TV a couple weeks ago. I hadn't though of health provider quitting. But I do know a number of licensed RNs that never started working as nurses and wouldn't even consider it now.

Saw somewhere on social media where OKC Mercy was having to use a Guthrie bed and all I could think was, that is not the direction you want healthcare to flow. It needs to go from rural to tertiary centers. If those are overrun and you start moving patients in the opposite direction, bad things happen.

Take this with a grain of salt because there are still Covid beds available.

My sister notified me today that her husband is showing symptoms and likely has it. Loss of taste and smelling and he’s feeling run down and has a persistent dry cough. What’s crazy is that they live in a rural part of England and the only places they’ve been during this recent lockdown is one of two grocery stores in town.

My sister notified me today that her husband is showing symptoms and likely has it. Loss of taste and smelling and he’s feeling run down and has a persistent dry cough. What’s crazy is that they live in a rural part of England and the only places they’ve been during this recent lockdown is one of two grocery stores in town.
Well, my friend in Manchester said that according to the statistics from their tract and trace, grocery stores where the leading place of transmission of the virus in England. So yes this makes sense.

Take this with a grain of salt because there are still Covid beds available.
I’m not so sure. I took a family member to Mercy emergency a few days ago. There were no beds and a 5 hour wait... 1 1/2 hr just to get to triage nurse. My patient was sent by ambulance to another hospital after 2 hrs at Mercy trying to get him admitted.

6,257 new cases reported but that is for both Friday and Saturday. 7-day rolling average now 3,271; all-time high is 3,274.

13 additional reported deaths. 7-day rolling average 13.3; all-time high is 17.1.


Now, we hold our breaths and wait for the post-Thanksgiving surge.

Yeah I think our numbers will start looking a whole lot worse by the time Christmas rolls around.

Take this with a grain of salt because there are still Covid beds available.

physical beds yes... but personal and equipment to use them no.... you do know you need more than just the bed for it to actually be useable, right?

And 'beds available' is BS anyway when you consider that lots of hospitals and areas don't have any at all.

You aren't going to feel good being shipped to a rural hospital if you get sick.

And the issue now is that there isn’t really an easy way to switch COVID beds and regular beds. Hospitals aren’t really having random types of beds mixed together, they have entire units. So if you make a COVID unit, you don’t have all these beds available for non-COVID patients. So having 10 empty COVID beds isn’t going to help the person with a heart attack who has to be shipped to a different hospital because there are no beds on non-COVID patients.

I can't help but wonder if the state level response from OSDH is jumbled because of all the leadership changes. If you want to roll out something like contact tracer apps or Covid testing alerts in a pandemic, it helps if you have had consistency in leadership. We've changed commissioners, epidemiologists, as well as some cabinet level health posts. I really wonder how many people died in the state because of bureaucracy. Clear consistent messaging saves lives.

The fish rots from the head. It starts with Stitt and the guy he put in charge of the agency who is not qualified for the role. Frye is just a yes-man anyway, which is the kind of "leadership" Stitt prefers.

I’m not so sure. I took a family member to Mercy emergency a few days ago. There were no beds and a 5 hour wait... 1 1/2 hr just to get to triage nurse. My patient was sent by ambulance to another hospital after 2 hrs at Mercy trying to get him admitted.

Maybe it's beds of a certain level of illness - some available and some not. I talked to a relative who works there Thursday and she said they are very busy but not maxxed out.

I know the hospitals with more than 1 location are trying to isolate covid in just 1 location.

Maybe it's beds of a certain level of illness - some available and some not. I talked to a relative who works there Thursday and she said they are very busy but not maxxed out.

I know the hospitals with more than 1 location are trying to isolate covid in just 1 location.
May be the other way around. Was sent to the new south location because they weren’t treating covid there. Mercy north was maxed out.

Well, my friend in Manchester said that according to the statistics from their tract and trace, grocery stores where the leading place of transmission of the virus in England. So yes this makes sense.

So maybe people going to crowded stores this weekend will be an even bigger source of virus infection than Thanksgiving gatherings.

And the issue now is that there isn’t really an easy way to switch COVID beds and regular beds. Hospitals aren’t really having random types of beds mixed together, they have entire units. So if you make a COVID unit, you don’t have all these beds available for non-COVID patients. So having 10 empty COVID beds isn’t going to help the person with a heart attack who has to be shipped to a different hospital because there are no beds on non-COVID patients.

I'm afraid as many as 10 empty COVID beds is going to be, unfortunately, a rare situation for a long time.

Basic science video explaining some terms that people are using incorrectly in this thread.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7OLpKqTriio

1,721 new cases today. 7-day rolling average has dropped to 3,031.

19 more reported deaths.

It'd be nice if we could just peak at 3,000 or so and begin the climb down, but I fear what impact Thanksgiving is going to have on the next couple weeks.

The “drop” to below 2,000 is pretty much just infected people traveling instead of getting tested right now.

It'd be nice if we could just peak at 3,000 or so and begin the climb down, but I fear what impact Thanksgiving is going to have on the next couple weeks.

Unfortunately I don't think we're even close to our peak yet, which is pretty scary considering how overwhelmed our hospitals already are and how burnt out our medical staff is. I've seen some scientists say that our daily number of deaths will likely double in the next 10 days.

If COVID-19 is really supposed to have a public image of just only being a mild and brief illness for most people, then why the heck are many hundreds, if not thousands of Oklahomans wanting to get tested for it everyday?

2,200 new cases reported today; 7-day rolling average now 2,839.

7 additional deaths; 7-day rolling average is 13.4.


Tonight, we'll finally get updated hospitalization numbers.

If COVID-19 is really supposed to have a public image of just only being a mild and brief illness for most people, then why the heck are many hundreds, if not thousands of Oklahomans wanting to get tested for it everyday?

I only recently started following this thread.

I've been sick for a little over a week. Severe body aches, fatigue, mild fever, chills and scratchy/dry/sore throat are the main symptoms. I'm in several very high risk categories, medically speaking, but while I've felt crappy, I haven't felt severely ill. I got tested today, primarily to find out if I'm a danger to others and need to completely quarantine. I suspect it's not Covid-19, because I would expect to be far more seriously ill, but you never know and I want to be sure.

I always wear a mask in public (except while eating in a restaurant and I keep the mask on until food arrives and replace it when done eating) and constantly sanitize my hands. It may not be Covid-19, but I caught something, despite those persistent precautions.

I only recently started following this thread.

I've been sick for a little over a week. Severe body aches, fatigue, mild fever, chills and scratchy/dry/sore throat are the main symptoms. I'm in several very high risk categories, medically speaking, but while I've felt crappy, I haven't felt severely ill. I got tested today, primarily to find out if I'm a danger to others and need to completely quarantine. I suspect it's not Covid-19, because I would expect to be far more seriously ill, but you never know and I want to be sure.

I always wear a mask in public (except while eating in a restaurant and I keep the mask on until food arrives and replace it when done eating) and constantly sanitize my hands. It may not be Covid-19, but I caught something, despite those persistent precautions.
With all due respect, if you’re still eating in restaurants without a mask, then your other precautions are for naught.

If COVID-19 is really supposed to have a public image of just only being a mild and brief illness for most people, then why the heck are many hundreds, if not thousands of Oklahomans wanting to get tested for it everyday?

Not to infect others?

Sad news in OKC. All-around civic booster, leader, and nice guy Mike McAuliffe died of Covid 19 yesterday. He was a former aide for both mayors Norick and Coats. Former VP at Ackerman. Very well known and liked all around town and somone who seemed to be in very good health. I think he may have been in his early 60s, but he was definitely robbed of many more years of life and giving to this city.

Almost every day you see bars and restaurants posting about temp closings due to positive cases.

This thing is starting to get everywhere and the days when many didn't know people who have been infected are drawing to a rapid close.

Almost every day you see bars and restaurants posting about temp closings due to positive cases.

This thing is starting to get everywhere and the days when many didn't know people who have been infected are drawing to a rapid close.

That's for sure. I know so many people who have been tested positive just in the past week that this is nuts. This includes my mother, an elementary school teacher. It's no surprise since just a week or so ago she got poor marks on a performance review because she was staying too far back from students (working with them across a table). And of course, her teaching partner was afraid of getting tested because they were worried the principal would get mad (not if they get sick, but just if they get tested at all).

I only recently started following this thread.

I've been sick for a little over a week. Severe body aches, fatigue, mild fever, chills and scratchy/dry/sore throat are the main symptoms. I'm in several very high risk categories, medically speaking, but while I've felt crappy, I haven't felt severely ill. I got tested today, primarily to find out if I'm a danger to others and need to completely quarantine. I suspect it's not Covid-19, because I would expect to be far more seriously ill, but you never know and I want to be sure.

I always wear a mask in public (except while eating in a restaurant and I keep the mask on until food arrives and replace it when done eating) and constantly sanitize my hands. It may not be Covid-19, but I caught something, despite those persistent precautions.I have high blood pressure, cholesterol and need to lose 30 lbs. And I'm almost 62. I expected that if I got COVID it would be bad. I had it in March and barely knew I had anything. Really only put 2&2 together when I tested positive for antibodies. My wife had similar very minor symptoms right after me at that time. The worst was the odd hot spells, sweating spells and breathing issues since then. Still not severe though.
Then around 3 weeks ago I had exactly the same symptoms as in March. But a little worse. I still feel really tired and generally like crap every day now. Unfortunately my wife also had the same symptoms she had in April about 2 weeks ago. She seems fine now except for being exhausted . She slept most of the holiday weekend.
She hasn't left the house since March except to go to work and she's in a office by herself there. I go to work and do the shopping. I can stay very isolated at work and besides, most of this time work has been pretty empty. When shopping I wear N95 masks and go through lots of sanitizer. So I really don't get how I could catch anything but I did.

I finally ended up coming down with it and am on day 11. Ironically after all the high risk activities/trips I've partaken in over the last two months (including going to packed bars every weekend, a large beach party, a group golf weekend, two large weddings, and a birthday party with about 100 people in Austin), I likely caught it on a trip to Phoenix to visit my grandfather...on which I only interreacted with a total of 6 people for longer than 2 minutes...none of which had it (with symptoms) or came down with it after being around me. I had a fever, chills, body aches, fatigue, congestion, and a cough on the second day. The fever and chills were gone the next morning with the body aches lasting a day or two longer. Still have a mild cough and a bit of fatigue that has improved every day. Given that I have asthma, I've been surprised by how minimally I've been affected. Fortunately it wasn't all that big of deal and I never had any shortness of breath or the more severe symptoms.

I'm still completely shocked that none of my family or friends who were around me just prior to exhibiting symptoms and a few that I was around after I started experiencing what I thought were allergy symptoms (until I ended up coming down with the fever)...have come down with it. Truly an odd virus.

Hospitalizations continue to surge; now 1,718 (+65), a new all-time high.

ICU also at an all-time high of 461 (+29).

Hospitalizations continue to surge; now 1,718 (+65), a new all-time high.

ICU also at an all-time high of 461 (+29).

Don’t worry, Stitt has a solution: A day of fasting and prayer on Thursday! *eye roll*

Truly an odd virus.This could be the most correct statement off all time!

OK is getting 40k doses of the vaccine (30k Pfizer, 10k Moderna) between Dec. 10-14. We have ~17,000 folks in LTC so I'd imagine the leftover goes to healthcare workers. Glad to see we're starting to get this out.

https://twitter.com/KassieMcClung/status/1333521449764708358

Just got a message from the nursing home where mom is asking for permission to give her a vaccine. They said they've been told to be ready mid-December.

Once again, more evidence that required mask wear ordinances help:

Stillwater population: 50,299, total positive cases: 3337 - Mask wear required indoors in all places open to public.

Yukon population: 40,962, total positive covid cases: 3634 - Mask wear only required inside city buildings, or if someone works in a bar or restaurant.