COVID-19: Kaw City still safe; 40 cases in Blackwell

by Jordan Green

For the second consecutive week, Kaw City is the only Kay County city with no active cases of the coronavirus, state health officials reported Tuesday.

As of press time, data from the Oklahoma State Health Department showed that Kaw City has 11 cases of the virus. Ten of the city’s COVID-19 patients have recovered from the virus, and one has died, state officials reported.

Kay County has 374 cases of the virus, up 48 from Sept. 1. Twelve people in the county have died from the virus, including one Blackwell resident, state health department data shows.

The department reports that 284 Kay County residents have recovered from the virus, leaving 78 active cases.

State officials report that there are 290 cases of the virus in Ponca City. Nine people there have died, and 221 have recovered. Blackwell has 40 cases, with 31 recoveries and one death. Tonkawa has 18 cases, no deaths and 15 recoveries. Newkirk has 16 cases, with twelve recoveries and one death.

The state health department does not provide data on coronavirus cases in some of the state’s smallest towns, including the Kay County towns of Braman and Nardin.

As of press time Tuesday, the State of Oklahoma had 65,053 cases of the virus. Of those cases, 9,930 are active. Statewide, 54,269 people have recovered from the virus, and 854 people have died from it.

The United States has more than 6.3 million cases of the virus. More than 189,000 Americans have died from it, and more than two 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.