Jenks zip code has highest number of active COVID-19 cases in Tulsa County
As cases continue to rise in Oklahoma, one town in Green Country has the highest number of active COVID-19 cases in the state, according to data from the Tulsa County Health Department.
City Hall, main street, and most of the homes in Jenks, Oklahoma are all part of the 74037 zip code.
As of Thursday, that zip code has the highest number of active COVID-19 cases in the state.
“Very concerning. I hate this,” said Pam George. “I did not realize that, that this is the highest one.”
“We were concerned when we had 5-6 cases, those were the low numbers we were looking at. Now we have those higher numbers it’s concerning,” said Jenks Mayor, Robert Lee.
From five to six cases a few weeks ago to 173 active cases as of Thursday, June 25th, Lee said the data from the Tulsa County Health Department is worrisome.
“People will say, that’s a small portion of our population, but we know how this spreads around so exponentially,” said Lee. “And these are just confirmed cases too, so you have to assume there are more than that.”
Lee said it’s a frustrating label for a city and community that worked so hard early on to stop the spread.
“For the longest time, we had one of the lowest number of cases, but now that we’re in phase three of the reopening we have one of the highest number of cases,” said Lee.
Lee said, though it’s not on the agenda to close down again, it was something they knew could possibly happen when they opened back up.
“We’re looking at hospitalizations,” said Lee.
Lee said they're keeping an eye on hospitalizations, and so far there is enough capacity in the hospital to handle the amount of patients.
“It just goes to show we can’t let our guard down, because we don’t want this to spread, we don’t want to undo all the good our sacrifices made,” said Lee.
The Tulsa County Health Department has an interactive map that allows people to search cases by zip code. It’s a helpful tool to help understand the situation, but it doesn’t provide data about where the cases originated from. Lee said, he doesn’t know what caused the spike in active cases, but the health department did release a list of possible sources.
“The health department has released this group of types of events that are most likely to spread this thing around,” said Lee.
The Health Department released the “Serious Seven” on Wednesday. It lists seven types of activities that increase the chances of someone catching COVID-19.
Those seven are:
- Gyms
- House gatherings
- Funerals
- Bars
- Faith-based activities
- Weddings
- Other small events