A September surge of COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma is largely a result of the coronavirus’ spread on college campuses.

Oklahoma’s new cases and the 7-day average of them leveled off this summer and held pretty steady. The last major spike was August 1, but after that, cases consistently dropped until mid-September. The state set a new record for the 7-day average on Sept. 21, again surpassing 1,000 cases a day, and cases continued spiking after that.

State leaders are well aware that along with prisons, colleges and universities are a major driver for infection rates going up, said state Commissi...