Coronavirus cases surge in Oklahoma

New coronavirus cases leaped in Oklahoma in the week ending Saturday, rising 105.3% as 18,454 cases were reported. The previous week had 8,989 new cases.

Oklahoma ranked No. 19 among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week the United States added 1,017,810 reported cases of coronavirus, an increase of 33.3% from the week before. Across the country, 48 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

Within Oklahoma, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Coal, Woods and Garvin counties. Adding the most new cases overall were Oklahoma County, with 3,926 cases; Tulsa County, with 2,447 cases; and Cleveland County, with 1,233. Weekly case counts rose in 76 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Oklahoma, Tulsa and Cleveland counties.

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The share of Oklahoma test results that came back positive was 18.3% in the latest week, compared with 10.5% in the week before, a USA TODAY Network analysis of COVID Tracking Project data shows. In the latest week, 100,732 tests were administered; a week earlier, that figure was 85,678.Experts say it is important to look at the share of tests that come back positive, not just case counts, to get a better idea of whether the rate of new infections is changing or if differences in testing are playing a role.

The World Health Organization says places should be conducting enough tests to have fewer than 5% coming back positive. Places where the percentage is higher could struggle to complete contact tracing soon enough to prevent spread of the virus.

In the state, 87 people died in the latest week. In the previous week, 92 people died.

A total of 150,205 people in Oklahoma have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 1,516 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 10,903,890 people have tested positive and 245,598 people have died.