Alva Review-Courier -

Covid-19 numbers posted by the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) tend to lag behind the actual cases. It takes time to assemble all the information from around the state and log it into computers. However, the day-to-day progression of numbers indicates trends, and for Oklahoma those trends show increases in cases and hospitalizations.

On Monday, the OSDH posted Alva’s first death attributed to the coronavirus. Over the weekend the OSDH caught up on a backlog of data. Monday, Alva’s number of active cases jumped to 62. It dropped to 52 on Tuesday but went up to 68 on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, Alva had 77 active cases, according to the OSDH.

Also on Thursday, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections website showed Bill Johnson Correctional Center in Alva has seven inmates currently positive for Covid. Last Friday, Northwestern Oklahoma State University reported 33 students and three staff members with positive test results over their three campus sites in Alva, Enid and Woodward. NWOSU reports new figures each Friday.

Woods County currently has 86 active cases of Covid as of Thursday, up from 70 on Monday. In addition to Alva’s numbers, Dacoma has three, Freedom two and Waynoka four.

Alfalfa County to the east has 26 active cases as of Thursday while Major County has 92, Harper County has 19, and Woodward County has 133. Garfield County is reported with 1,627 active cases.

Tonight (Friday) Alva High School is scheduled to play at Chandler in the first round of football playoffs. Chandler is listed as having 31 active cases on Thursday.

The Thursday numbers also showed increases statewide with current cases at 144,691, up 2,357. Deaths increased by 11 to 1,481 statewide. Current hospitalizations have now reached 1,248.