Kay County: No new COVID deaths

The coronavirus continues to spread in Oklahoma, though no new deaths have been reported in Kay County for seven days.

As of press time Tuesday, Kay County had a total of 267 cases of the virus. Eleven people in the county have died from the virus, including one Blackwell resident, data from the Oklahoma State Health Department shows. Those figures have not changed since Aug. 12. The department reports that 225 Kay County residents have recovered from the virus.

State officials report that there are 207 cases of the virus in Ponca City. Eight people there have died, and 179 have recovered. Blackwell has 29 cases, with 22 recoveries and one death. Tonkawa has 14 cases, with 13 recoveries and no deaths. Newkirk has 11 cases, with eight recoveries and one death. Kaw City has eleven cases, with seven recoveries and one death.

Oklahoma had 48,711 confirmed cases of the virus as of press time. Statewide, 665 individuals have died from the virus. Health department data shows that 40,531 people have recovered from it. The state has a total of 7,515 active cases, health officials said.

The United States has more than five million cases of the virus. More than 170,000 Americans have died from it, and more than 1.8 million have recovered from it.

The coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, is a respiratory illness that originated in China, data from the Centers for Disease Control shows. Symptoms of the virus include fever, shortness of breath, and dry coughing. Symptoms appear 2 – 14 days after a person has been exposed to the virus, which is transmitted by coughing and touching contaminated surfaces.