By Nolan ClayStaff writernclay@oklahoman.comAlmost 1,000 confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients were in Oklahoma hospitals Friday, and the situation could get a lot worse soon.By Christmas Eve, more than 2,700 sickened by the disease will fill hospital beds in the state, the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projects.So many are hospitalized in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area for the disease that hospitals there were bumped up Thursday to the next level of the state's new surge plan.Read more on NewsOK.com