Kevin Stitt's efforts to Make Oklahoma a Top 10 State™ are going according to plan!
According to a recent report, Oklahoma is ranked second in the country for Hepatitis C infections. Here are the details via NewsOK:
If you put 100 people representing the breadth of Oklahoma's population in a room, the odds are good that two of them have hepatitis C — and may not know it.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Wednesday showed Oklahoma had the highest rates of deaths from complications of the virus and of people living with hepatitis C infections, other than the District of Columbia.
Wait a second. They're including Washington DC in the rankings? That's bullshit! It seems like every time we vault past Mississippi and Arkansas to be number one in something, the powers that be throw us a curveball and include Washington DC. We can't catch any breaks in Oklahoma, but we can catch Hepatitis... especially if you're in one of out patented overcrowded prisons.
Via KFOR:
The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is seeking increased funding from lawmakers to treat prisoners with liver viruses.
The Journal Record reports the department estimates more than 3,000 of the state’s inmates have hepatitis C, a virus that’s dispersed among people through blood contact.
Department spokesman Matt Elliott said inmates receive treatment for their symptoms under the current funding levels but few are getting the direct antiviral medication they need.
Elliott said the antiviral medication treatment is expected to cost nearly $92 million.
I did the quick math, and that equates to about $30,666 to treat each infected inmate. Doesn't that seem kind of high? Considering the hepatitis boom is a direct result of our state's opioid crisis, you'd think drug makers would give us a loyalty discount.
