Officials announce COVID-19 is transitioning to ‘endemic’ stage

The COVID pandemic is coming to a close, according to state and local health officials and other reporting agencies, when the number of cases throughout the state including those in Sequoyah County are reportedly dropping.

According to an official with the Sequoyah County Emergency Management office who reported to the Sequoyah County Board of Commissioners Monday, the total number of COVID cases statewide on March 11 was 2,679. However, on April 1, the state reported a drop in 1,100 cases with only 10 positive cases in Sequoyah County.

“I think we’re in the endemic phase now,” said Jonathan Teague, deputy director of Sequoyah County Emergency Management.

“Of course, the official statement needs to come from the health officials, but I’ve been hearing this from other sources in the state,” Teague said.

Daniel Ortiz, regional epidemiologist for District 7 which includes Sequoyah County, said cases were coming to a significantly “low” level.

“Our OSDH [Oklahoma State Department of Health] officials are labeling the Covid current stage as ‘transitioning to an endemic response’.” Ortiz said. “They’ve been careful to avoid saying that we are in an ‘endemic stage’ yet, but the Public Health Emergency declared by HHS is ending on May 11, 2023, and as a result, some of the flexibilities and waivers associated with that declaration will end.”

According to COVID information provided by Ortiz from the CDC, results are as follows: COVID-19 Community Level: Low -101.04 cases per 100,000 -6.7 new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population -2.8% Staffed inpatient beds in use by patients with confirmed COVID-19. From the OSDH COVID website, information for Sequoyah County for the week ending March 25 was 22 COVID cases and for the week ending April 1 was 10 COVID cases, a 55% drop from the previous week.