With a surge in COVID-19 deaths since last week, Oklahoma now ranks 18th highest in the nation in the rate of coronavirus deaths.
Taking population into account, deaths were highest in New York, with 6.3 deaths per 100,000 residents, followed by Louisiana, Washington, New Jersey and Vermont, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project and U.S. Census Bureau estimates of state population from July 2019, the latest available.
Oklahoma ranked 18th with 0.43 deaths per 100,000 residents. (Oklahoma ranks 28th in total population.) According to Oklahoma State Department of Health data released Monday, 17 people have died in Oklahoma from the coronavirus. Just a week earlier, on March 23, two people were reported to have died.
All but two states had reported deaths from COVID-19 as of Monday, COVID Tracking Project data shows. Only Hawaii and Wyoming had no deaths. New York had the most with 1,218 deaths, followed by New Jersey (198), Washington (195) and Louisiana (185).
The state health department has released only basic information about deaths related to COVID-19. Eleven of the 17 deaths were people aged 65 and over, the age group at highest risk for the disease. Five others were between the ages of 50 and 64, and one was between ages 36 and 49. Ten men and seven women have died.