Washington County remains in the “Moderate Risk,” or “Orange” category for Covid-19 infections according to the State’s risk alert system, City Manager Mike Bailey told the City Council on Monday.
The county saw its 42nd death from the virus over the weekend as hospitals across the country approach capacity to care for critically ill patients.
Washington County hospitalizations have remained on the low end, however, Bailey said.
“That’s really the one thing that we’re trying to track — the hospital’s capacity and the ability of the hospital to deal with ill patients,” Bailey said. “Fortunately, up to this point, we haven’t had much of an issue with that locally, and hopefully that remains the case.”
Bailey said the county, like the “vast majority of the state,” has remained in the Moderate Risk category for several weeks.
“As of last Friday, according to the Washington County Surveillance Report, we were at 21.1 cases per 100,000 population,” he said, noting that this is the metric used nationally to measure growth in new cases on a daily basis.
Bailey said to be considered a “Low Risk” county, cases would need to drop to 14.29 per 100,000 per population.
“So we are significantly above that,” he said. “We have not been in the Low Risk category in the last 20 days or so. It’s unfortunate because we really were doing a pretty good job — we kind of went in and out of Low and Moderate Risk — but we’ve been stuck here for a while.”
Bailey said High Risk is reached when cases reach in excess of 14 per 100,000 population coupled with additional criteria such as a higher hospitalization or ventilation rates.
He said that locally, hospitalization rates are monitored closely.
“Locally, the one that we try to track is hospitalizations, which is looking at the percentage of your capacity,” he said. “We have done pretty well with that so far, but of course that can change quickly.”
According to the OSDH website, as of earlier today Bartlesville has had 1,153 cases of Covid-19, with 38 deaths and 1,010 persons recovered. Washington County has had 1,414 cases, with 42 deaths and 1,237 recovered.
Oklahoma State Department of Health guidelines for ‘Orange’ category
General guidelines for individuals
Consider wearing face coverings in public. • Limit out-of-state travel. • Wash hands often for 20 seconds. • Maintain physical distance of six feet apart. • Don’t touch your face. • Stay home if you’re sick. • Practice symptom checks prior to team sport competitions or practices. • Large or public gatherings and venues are suggested to operate under increased hygiene measures, physical distancing, face coverings and symptom monitoring. • Provide multiple meeting schedules to encourage smaller gatherings, with online streaming as the preferred delivery.
General guidelines for businesses
• High-contact businesses are advised to operate under stricter public health protocols, with additional directives provided in consultation with local officials. • Dine-in service operate under elevated cleaning and hygiene measures as outlined by CDC. • Offer telework options where possible, with continued heightened hygiene policies and physical distancing for the workplace.