COVID-19 UPDATES 3/23/20

HEALTH DEPARTMENT STATUS

• As of this advisory, there are 81 positive cases of COVID-19 and two deaths in Oklahoma.
• If you are coming from a country or a region with widespread ongoing transmission of COVID-19 (Level 3 Travel Heath Notice), you may be screened when you arrive in the United States. After you arrive home, take the following steps to protect yourself and others:

1. Stay at home. Do not go to work, school, or leave your house for 14 days. Discuss your work situation with your employer.
2. Monitor your health. Take your temperature with a thermometer two times a day and monitor for fever (temperature of 100.4°F/38°C or higher). Also watch for cough or trouble breathing.
3. Practice social distancing within the home. Avoid contact with other people for the 14 days. Maintain distance (approximately 6 feet or 2 meters) from family members and others in the home when possible.

• Before there was community spread of COVID-19 in Oklahoma, monitoring pending PUIs was a way to track all imported suspect cases as a means of preventing community spread. Now that there is community spread of COVID-19 in Oklahoma, the PUI metric no longer reflects the current outbreak status in Oklahoma. This is largely driven by the high volume of people being tested at labs independent of the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) Public Health Laboratory. Therefore, we will no longer report daily PUI numbers to prevent causing confusion as we transition to an expanded process of testing for COVID-19 in Oklahoma.
• There is a high incidence of cases in the 18-49 age group. People of all age groups are asked to stay home and practice social distancing.
  
• The Governor’s Solution Task Force is actively working to expand COVID-19 testing through public-private partnerships, engaging OU and OSU laboratories and deploying satellite testing units in Oklahoma, Tulsa, Kay and Pittsburg Counties.
  
• The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) continues to support guidelines from the CDC related to social distancing and personal hygiene. OSDH encourages Oklahomans to stay home, reduce person-to-person contact, wash hands frequently, and avoid touching your face. If you develop symptoms such as fever, shortness of breath or cough, please contact your medical professional or call the COVID-19 call center at ‪877-215-8336‬ or 211 for assistance.
  
• For more information, visit coronavirus.health.ok.gov.

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

• The Capitol is still closed to the public as part of public health precautions, but the House is open today to serve you remotely.
• The Legislature has taken unprecedented, necessary, swift steps to continue addressing priorities without placing the public or ourselves in harm’s way.
• In-person session activities are currently recessed. The House and Senate have not met since last Tuesday and will not meet in person this week, either.
• The Legislature has taken the following additional actions:
  • Closed the Capitol to the public a week ago
  • Not returned to the Capitol since a COVID-19 case was confirmed in the building Tuesday
  • Ordered a deep clean of the entire Capitol that was completed Friday
  • Equipped staff and members to work remotely until further notice so work can continue outside of the building
• Beyond those actions, the House passed a new rule allowing for proxy voting so members can vote remotely if necessary.
• The state budget has been prioritized and will be taken up far earlier than normal this session. The budget has been worked on every day for more than a week in negotiations between the House, Senate, and Governor.
• The Legislature is prioritizing public health while maintaining its ability to pass a budget and other policies that may be necessary in response to COVID-19.

 
TESTING

• DRIVE-THRU testing sites are opening this week in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, McAlester and Kay County.
  
• Lawton’s DRIVE-THRU testing site opened last Thursday at 3811 West Gore Boulevard. It’s open daily from 2 PM to 6 PM as long as their supplies last.
• A testing capacity INCREASE of up to 10,000 within a week could be possible through the authorization of COVID-19 testing in labs at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University. 
• Because TESTING CAPACITY AND SPEED will be increasing this week, the number of confirmed Oklahoma cases is expected to increase, as well.
  
  

SUPPLIES

• There is no shortage or disruption in the supply chain for GROCERIES. It is not necessary to stockpile months of food at this time.
• The state has slightly more than nine days of PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT for healthcare workers on hand. Major state and national efforts are underway to obtain more personal protective equipment.

 
SHELTERING AND CLOSURES

• Some CITY GOVERNMENTS in Oklahoma have been enacting varying levels of sheltering or closure measures over the past week.
• State health officials and Governor Stitt are not recommending STATEWIDE sheltering or closures at this time because they do not believe Oklahoma’s statewide situation currently requires it. They acknowledged that could change as the situation changes.

 
TASK FORCES

• Governor Stitt has formed a multiagency TASK FORCE to track response and implement SOLUTIONS to the ongoing virus challenge.
• The OKLAHOMA NATIONAL GUARD has activated a task force and is prepared to deploy in relief efforts if needed.

As always, I can be reached via email at daniel.pae@okhouse.gov and phone at 580-458-1475.