“I’ve issued 15 executive orders since March 15 when I first declared a state of emergency, but it was to build capacity in our hospitals to make sure we didn’t overrun our health care system, it was to build supply for PPE, and it was to flatten the curve. The facts in our state are, March 30 we peaked in hospitalization with 560 across the state. Today we have 300 across the state in our hospitals…

It is time for a measured reopening.”

-       Governor Kevin Stitt on FOX News Sunday

Governor Stitt was featured on one of the top Sunday political talk shows today discussing Oklahoma’s plan to begin to reopen after building capacity in hospitals, personal protective gear, and COVID testing.

Governor Stitt highlighted how the State is taking a pragmatic, data-driven approach to getting Oklahomans back to work. In Phase 1 of his plan, which began Friday, elective surgeries resumed and personal care businesses like hair salons, barbershops, nail salons and dog groomers can open by appointment only, provided they maintained social distancing and followed sanitation protocols.

Phase 2 will begin on May 1 with more details coming.

This is all possible because Oklahoma has achieved all four gates put out by the White House for when a State can reopen:

• Oklahoma’s hospitalizations peaked on March 30 with 560 individuals in the hospitals for COVID symptoms. It has trended down throughout the month of April with roughly 300 in the hospital this weekend for symptoms of COVID. 
   
• Oklahoma has more than 4600 beds available for COVID patients, 4X the capacity projected by the IHME COVID modeling used by the White House. Oklahoma has also implemented a hospital surge plan that will sustain the 40% expansion of hospital beds across the state, including in rural Oklahoma, and maintain two COVID-designated hospitals for the critically ill, located in Tulsa and Oklahoma.
   
• Oklahoma has gone from nearly last place in COVID testing to #25 in the nation today, with research underway that will allow the State to once again double its capacity. The State has more than 150,000 COVID tests available for the public, with more than 80 drive thru testing locations which can be found here: https://coronavirus.health.ok.gov/drive-thru-testing
   
• Oklahoma has twice as many recovered cases (1,961) than active cases (972). Oklahoma’s total daily new cases are trending downward even though the State has performed almost double the number of tests this week than last week. The percentage of positive tests is also dropping. It was north of 10% in mid-March and today Oklahoma is down to 6.3%.

Furthermore, Governor Stitt and his administration are receiving national recognition and praise for publishing transparent and daily data on COVID-19, which has guided the Governor’s decisions on how to best re-open Oklahoma.

You can view the data dashboard at https://coronavirus.health.ok.gov, and you will see why the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Charlotte Observer, and more are praising Oklahoma for leading in digital transformation with COVID-19 information.

DON’T MISS GOVERNOR STITT represent Oklahoma on the national stage as a guest on the FOX News Sunday show:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/oklahoma-gov-defends-reopening-beyond-trump-recommendations

- Team Stitt