Last week Governor Stitt briefed Oklahomans on the on-going COVID-19 situation in the state. Here are a few of the Governor’s key points he wants Oklahomans to know. 

“My administration remains committed to the health and safety of all Oklahomans. We are focused on continuing to expand and improve testing and tracing in Oklahoma, and we are actively relying on the scientific data in our state and White House guidelines in order to best determine when to allow our businesses and organizations to safely re-open.” – Governor Kevin Stitt

Governor Kevin Stitt and the Governor’s Solution Task Force provided updates on the State’s efforts to expand testing and contact tracing efforts in Oklahoma. These efforts include:  

• Launching two additional mobile testing sites at OSU Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa and OU-Tulsa starting on Monday, April 20.  
  • A list of all drive-thru testing sites is available here: https://coronavirus.health.ok.gov/drive-thru-testing
     
• Governor Stitt announced that medical procedures and elective surgeries for “conditions that are not life-threatening and which, if not provided, would have the potential for increasing morbidity or mortality” may resume on April 24^th.
  • All minor medical procedures and non-emergency dental procedures such as outpatient surgeries or procedures for not life-threatening illnesses may resume May 1.
     
• The Governor’s Solutions Taskforce is prioritizing antibody testing in order to better identify who has been exposed to the virus without showing symptoms.
   
• Governor Stitt authorized the Oklahoma National Guard to work with the State Department of Health to have the ability to quickly respond to nursing home outbreaks and better protect vulnerable Oklahomans.  

The governor also announced a partnership with INTEGRIS HEALTH to designate INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center Portland Avenue as the COVID Flex location for the Oklahoma City metro area, in case the state experiences a surge in hospital capacity.

The number of total people in the hospital with confirmed COVID-19 cases or persons under investigation continues to trend downward. The number of hospitalizations peaked at 560 people on March 30 and has been trending down for the past two and a half weeks. There are currently 325 people in the hospital with a confirmed case or with symptoms that are waiting on test results to come back.

Equally important, the Governor announced that last week the State officially has more recovered COVID cases than active cases. More than 1,575 Oklahomans have recovered from their COVID diagnosis, with 884 that remain active.

Additionally, the governor highlighted his discussion with President Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci about the White House guidelines to re-open businesses across the country. The governor reiterated his commitment to base all decisions around re-opening businesses on the scientific data in Oklahoma and with guidance from public health advisors.

For the most up to date information and updates please visit the Oklahoma State Department of Health website at coronavirus.health.ok.gov. For questions, please call the OSDH Coronavirus Call Center at 1-877-215-8336.

--Team Stitt