There has been a lot of information out about COVID-19 novel coronavirus, and it’s important to decipher through to find accurate information that can help you and your family be as safe as possible. Here are four things you need to know about COVID-19 from experts at INTEGRIS Health.
1. Practice the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) COVID-19 Safe Guidelines
* Hand Hygiene. Protect yourself by frequently washing your hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, then use a 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Make sure that hand sanitizer is not replacing thorough handwashing if available.
* Face. Also avoid touching your eyes, mouth and face as much as possible. If you cough or sneeze, don’t do so into your hands. Cough and sneeze into your elbow or upper sleeve.
* Social Distancing. Stay away from public gatherings of more than 10 people. Put a six-foot distance between yourself and other people where possible. If you can, work from home and limit time spent in crowded public spaces.
2. Signs and Symptoms of COVID-19
* Fever, cough, muscle aches and shortness of breath.
* A runny nose or a sore throat, these are not common symptoms of the COVID-19.
3. How, When and Where to Get Care for COVID-19
Most people with COVID-19 will not need to come to a doctor office, ER or hospital for care.
The following are places you can get care if you have COVID-19 symptoms:
* At Home Care. There is no treatment to cure COVID-19 at this time. Staying home and letting the illness run its course is what most people will need to do.
* Call Ahead or Use TeleHealth. To limit exposure to others, if you feel you need additional help beyond your home care, please seek care in the following ways:
– E-visits with your provider – visit www.INTEGRISandMe.com
– INTEGRIS Virtual Visits. Using INTEGRIS Virtual Visits allows clinical experts to conduct an initial screening for COVID-19.
You can download the app for iPhone and Android, or use on your computer at www.integrisvirtualvisit.com
Emergency Room (ER). Only come to the ER for COVID-19 if you are experiencing difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, new confusion or inability to arouse and bluish lips or face.
4. The Need for Testing
* World-wide Shortages. COVID-19 testing kits and personal protective equipment (mask, gowns, etc.) are in short supply due to the worldwide demand.
* Testing appropriateness. The treatment for COVID-19 is not different for confirmed versus suspected COVID-19 patients. Because of the short supply, basic COVID-19 symptoms will not be tested.
* Testing Centers. As COVID-19 testing kits and personal protective equipment become more available, a drive through testing center will be created.
4 Things to Know about Coronavirus (COVID -19)

Emily’s Creations brings joy
story and photo by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer
It’s been two years now since Emily Spitler decided to channel her creative energy into stained glass.
And the world is a better place for it.
“I really enjoy working on the mosaics as it is very rewarding seeing the finished product and knowing that it was something I created,” Spitler said. “It also gives me tremendous satisfaction when someone sees one of my pieces, their eyes light up and they point to it and say ‘I want that one’ with a huge smile on their face.”
She originally set out to do it as a hobby but as she got more and more involved with it, decided to put some things up for sale. Her daughter, Stacey, created a Facebook page for her to share her art work and then it just blossomed from there.
Besides having her online store at www.emilyscreations.net, she has also had a booth at last fall’s Affair of the Heart and the Santa Market. She is hoping to have a booth later this year at a few more shows.
Spitler used to own a knitting and craft store in Prague originally called The Knitting Needle then once she added more gift items the location changed and the name was changed to Emily’s Gift World.
She’s always been involved in arts and crafts. First there was ceramics, then of course knitting, crocheting and all kinds of needlework. She started sewing during grade school and was involved in 4-H.
She still plants a garden each year and, of course, she starts the seeds from scratch and even mixes up her own soil. Her tomato and okra plants have been known to reach over 8’ tall. She enjoys cooking and collecting recipes to try. She even makes her own bread (including hamburger buns), pickles and tomato sauce!
She really enjoys doing the mosaic art because of the mystery of how each design will turn out. She starts by cutting the glass sheets, then laying it out on a pattern. The glass has to be ground on the grinding wheel to get the desired shape and to smooth out the sharp edges. Each piece of glass is glued down into the design.
She then mixes up the grout and applies it to the entire piece. After approximately 15-20 minutes, the grout is cleaned off. Many times, the grout has to be cleaned off with a pick to get between the tiles/glass.
Just by changing the color of the grout, you can get a completely different look.
On the large mural 3’x6’ mural called “The Wave”, it took 4 months to complete. Many hours were spent grinding each piece of glass and mirror. She enlisted the help of both her daughter and husband to assist.
Depending upon the complexity of the piece it can take up to 3 weeks or longer to complete. She has used other mediums in her pieces including sand, shells, rocks, mirrors, beads, tiles and broken dishes
Her artwork brings out the best not only in herself but others.
Daughter Stacey recalls a funny story at her aunt’s 95th birthday celebration.
“We put her mosaic cross into a Harry and David box so she thought she was getting a box of clementines when she unwrapped the gift,” Stacey remembers. “Before she unwrapped the gift she was so happy and excited to get the box. When she unwrapped it and saw the Harry and David box, the expression on her face was priceless! She was so disappointed and at a loss for words. I actually thought she was going to start crying.”
“Then she went ahead and opened the box to unveil the mosaic cross and a big smile appeared. She said that she was so happy to get the cross instead of the clementines!”
Spitler’s work has been honored, most recently winning 1st and 3rd place at the 2019 Oklahoma State Fair.
You can also connect with her on Facebook at Emily’s Creations.
Can you trust your roofer?
Story by Susan Slater
How Seniors Can Trust They’ve Found a Reputable Roofer
A lot of companies say they specialize in working with seniors. But Dennis Helm, of Smooth Finish Roofing & Construction, shows it.
Dennis is an industry partner and a member of OKALA (Oklahoma Assisted Living Association). He also has industry partnerships with several important senior organizations: Oklahoma’s Senior News and Living, The Oklahoma Senior Journal, Senior GuidePost, and The VillagesOKC. When Dennis says he enjoys working with seniors and wants to help them, he means it!
Dennis has been a senior advocate for as long as he’s been a business owner of Smooth Finish. He came about this from a place of caring for those who may be vulnerable to scammers because of difficulties he faced as a child.
How Smooth Finish can help seniors
1) If you are working with a senior who would like to stay in their home, Smooth Finish can install a good-quality roof on their home that will last.
They can also help with other repairs and modifications on the homes of seniors who want to age in place. Besides roofing, Smooth Finish can do ceiling leak repair, guttering, siding, garage doors, fencing, painting, and more.
2) If you have a client who is moving into a senior living center and needs to sell their home, they may likely need a new roof or other repairs. Smooth Finish will do excellent work at a fair price, so your client’s home can pass all the inspections required for a sale.
3) Smooth Finish is not only certified and licensed* to do roofing for residential homes, but for senior living facilities as well.
Owner Dennis Helm—a true senior advocate
With his sincere desire to help seniors, Dennis always works to encourage people to use only local, licensed, and insured roofing contractors with hundreds of verifiable references. There are just too many terrible stories of things going wrong when people don’t.
Warning: roofers may not be who they seem to be!
“I’ve heard it many, many times,” Dennis says, “most people don’t trust roofers. That’s because in this industry there are a lot of fly-by-night roofers. They come in town, start a ‘company,’ get magnets on their car, and in 24-hours they look like a legitimate business. But they’re not.”
Unreliable scammers always rush into town after a storm has hit to solicit people who need roofing services. These unscrupulous “companies” many times will claim to be local, even though they’re not, and may go to great lengths to look like they’re hometown guys.
Dennis tells about having a man from out of town contact him after a bad storm hit the Oklahoma City area. This man wanted to “buy” the Smooth Finish company name, and use Dennis’s address and phone number for six months. He offered a good price, too! He wanted to appear to be a local, established company when soliciting roof jobs.
Dennis warns people to not be fooled. He says, “I wasn’t about to go for that deal, but other companies will.” He continues, “I want people with roofing needs in Oklahoma City to rest at ease. I want them to know that when they use Smooth Finish Roofing & Construction, they’re getting an honest, reputable company. I’m a lifelong resident and have 32 years expertise in this business.”
Ask for licensing numbers and for references, and then check them out! Dennis explains that reputable roofers live and work in the same city where their business is located. “We don’t go out of town, except for previous and existing customers. There is always more than enough work for us right here in the 620 square miles of Oklahoma City.”
Your clients will thank you for a Smooth Finish recommendation
You can feel confident in recommending Smooth Finish Roofing & Construction to the clients you’re helping. For the homeowner, Dennis can work on the rooftop, the floor, and everything in between. He’s licensed General Contractor for the City of Oklahoma City* and has been in business for 32 years.
Since 1987, Dennis has been helping customers with decisions concerning their homes. Many times, he’s found simple solutions for complex problems. He works to keep the costs fair and reasonable, and lives by the Smooth Finish motto: “Where quality craftsmanship meets fair pricing.” Give Dennis a call on his personal cell phone at (405-923-5127).
He’ll be happy to come visit you for a free consultation, inspection, and estimate. And he’ll be glad to give you references so you can check with people who have used his services! Dennis adds, “We are proud of and enjoy our solid reputation. We enjoy serving seniors, military, and single mothers—and we only move forward with a job when you’re comfortable.”
*Oklahoma CIB #0242 and City of Oklahoma City license #13705
TRAVEL / ENTERTAINMENT: A Celebrity Equinox Cruise: Part Two
Photography and Text by Terry “Travels with Terry” Zinn t4z@aol.com

You may think it odd that I would be telling you about the virtues and short falls of a cruise line, in an atmosphere of distrust and downright boycott of any cruise at this time of health issues. And I agree. However in recent memory Celebrity Cruises has not had any mass ship borne infection with its passengers as had other lines in the news.. Maybe due to luck, maybe due to good hygiene, as on my January cruise there was hand sanitizer at every turn of the corner and at every group gathering.
Lets face it: travel comes with risks. In most cases the risk is out weighted by the rewards of comforting destinations, emotional and intellectual satisfaction, and identifying with world wide humanity. The risk was there when I took my first international trip to Egypt and Greece in the early 1980s; as we traveled between the assassination of middle east leaders. Now the Cruise lines are suspended and booking now for the future of 6 to 9 months ahead is not available or even thinkable. We were so glad we had our Egypt adventure, as I’m sure you have had looking back on your completed trips.
The Celebrity Equinox has many extras that secured my vote and my deposit for a cruise in January, booked in September. In retrospect there were so many more pluses than minus to the cruise. It was a joy to board the ship. There was lots of walking from curbside to security, check in and off to the cabin which was available on time, not always available on other cruise lines. And in short time, the luggage arrived, there was ice, the pre-ordered flowers were delivered as was the shower bench and we were introduced to our cabin steward, Revlon, who throughout the cruise was quite efficient.
A short coming was the mini non insulated ice bucket. While there are ample drink stations on many floors, none on mine, as it’s nice to take a soft drink from the nicely stocked mini fridge ($3/soft drink) for a quick pick me up or beverage enjoying the view from your own veranda. Yes a small inconvenience, but hey, it’s your cruise and should be without bumps that could be corrected.
All of my prepaid tours, events and dining extras were executed without exception, and it was easier than I thought, to add more once boarded. I have been on cruises where if you did not book your most wanted extras, there were sold out upon boarding, not so with Celebrity.
The tours offered on line before the cruise were minimal, but plentiful in the brochure on board. We had a most delightful three stop food and beverage tasting in St. Thomas. There was a trek over uneven streets to arrive at the 3 locales, but once there each were atmospherically and deliciously different. One was a tasting of local foods in an historic family owned and operated restaurant. The second was beverage making in a quaint bar, and the third a make shift banana fosters show and tasting. Each locale was near, but off the beaten track, and if you didn’t know it was there, you could miss it, which made the tour mysterious and inviting. It was a pleasant tour, and only disappointing in that on that tour, was that we were not driven to the photo sight so often seen in brochure that looked down upon the white sand St. Thomas crescent beach.
I had heard from other cruise veterans that Santa Domingo was a beautiful tropical place, so I was looking forward to my tour. There were several choices but most sounded too strenuous for this cane carrying senior, so I picked one that was on a small bus to three spots of interest. I just knew one would be a local beach from a resort or such, and I could just take in the lux surroundings with a tropical view with beverage in hand. As the saying goes,”Expectations are the road to disappointment.”
I was not happy with the non destination our small bus of cruisers were taken. One was a long drive to a large parking lot where off in the distance a sunken dilapidated wooden pier could be seen. The history, if there was some, was lost on me. Next was a park with a small bandstand where costumed dancers were waiting for the recorded music to start. Most got off the bus to see this local amateur folkloric dance-dozen swooshed their skirts and stomped there feet. Next was a primitive open air eating place, where the driver had his dinner of rice and such. The rest of us, could buy bottle coca cola and such and wondered what was next on this tour. It was a stop at a gentrified and not yet completed colorfully painted strip mail of sorts, where over priced souvenirs could be purchased before returning to the ship. Needless to say this was no beautiful, tropical enchanting tour. I’m sure other tours which included hikes and snorkeling were well received. I gave this one a 1 on a scale of 10 as high, on the subsequent emailed evaluation.
The Equinox has many venues for entertainment. The top deck boasts a real live green grass lawn where bowling can be enjoyed or sitting in chairs and watch an outdoor movie after sunset. I preferred the more structured performance by the exceptional talent displayed at three different jute box musical in the main theater. There really were no bad seats and if you got there early you can order soft drinks and the like. The production shows usually had well known songs sung live with an array of costumes and a thin story line. I was not always thrilled with the content but the execution ans energy of the performances were without equal.
Besides memories of near gourmet meals in the premium based specialty restaurants, the Hot Art Glass blowing experience was fun and offered a real home grown – your breath – take away souvenir. I had done this on a limited basis before, but there is nothing like putting your lips on the end of blow pipe where on the other end was a glob of glass at 2,000 degrees. Scheduling this event can be tricky as the on line booking App does not register your exact reservation time, and you must sign up for a time in person. This was one of their prepaid options I made at home before the cruise.
You may think I was hard on my Equinox evaluations, but as stated before, I got no compensation from the cruise line and my honest, picky evaluation, might prepare you in your booking. I heartily endorse Celebrity Equinox, as the highest compliment, is that I look forward to booking again.
Celebrity offers at; (www.celebritycruises.com) and 1-888-751-7804)
Aging in Place—COVID-19 Important
Story and photos by Darl DeVault
Seniors either retirement privileged or close to that status face an important question around the world as we now see the importance of aging in place brought on by COVID-19-driven orders to shelter in place.
The question for those trying to add to the quality of life they have built for themselves throughout their decades of hard work and life experience is do they allow themselves to become dependent?
Seniors have grown up in an age of independence, of individual rights for those pulling for the greater good.
We have recently heard many directives from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during this COVID-19 Global Pandemic. The CDC says during a COVID-19 outbreak in your community, stay home as much as possible to further reduce your risk of being exposed.
Perhaps for seniors the CDC’s definition of aging in place “the ability to live in one’s own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level” should define their future.
A member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, Kara De La Pena, who owns a metro urgent care mobile practice, is advising her patients to make changes to their home to compensate for their disabilities. This allows them to age in place.
And yet many healthy, disability-free seniors have chosen to amass in retirement communities. With 15 years of delivering medical services, De La Pena has seen a downside to this choice recently while delivering urgent care to her patient’s home.
“The number of patients with serious complications I have seen recently during this pandemic is astounding—often times requiring careful consideration of sending them to a higher level of care or leaving them to manage their symptoms,” said De La Pena, an advanced practice registered nurse whose practice is based on making house calls.
Her certifications in advanced cardiac life support, basic life support, and pediatric advanced life support allow her to fully evaluate her senior patient’s situations. De La Pena has been adding aging in place expertise to her delivery of medical health care as the owner of NP 2 Go.
She says although centers that cater to disability free seniors have a great array of services and amenities, they also come with a serious medical restriction.
Those places are only as medically secure in a pathogen pandemic as the least informed and observant of warnings of social distancing among that population.
While these retirement communities tout wonderful food, convenience, comfortable-bus special excursions to cultural events they fall short in medical privacy. Someone trying to self quarantine cannot prevent other seniors from ignoring the scientifically established demand to stay in their area during a pandemic.
It is not physically possible for self-quarantining seniors to live in a totally private area in a retirement community. Even the milder restriction of shelter in place is impossible when others can insist on inflicting their social visits.
Sharing beautiful common areas can be a minus, just as the pressure to attend a variety of planned activities can short circuit the best intentions to be safe. Some residents may not be able to resist the temptation to socialize with friends and neighbors every day.
Seniors trying to do the right thing in a pandemic are at the mercy of those people who have the least ability to understand science. Some people do not understand the gravity of the situation, or exercise social inhibitions in a time of emergency.
If a senior remains in their home, aging in place, they are far more likely able to avoid a medical emergency based on the spread of a pathogen.
“Sheltering in place is nearly impossible in communal living, which is why aging in place is of utmost importance-now and in the future,” De La Pena said. “Our physical health and mental health often meld together for a balance which creates a homeostasis that directly affects our personal health. Aging in place provides independence, prevents communal illnesses, and promotes self-care.”
Aging in place means solving safety and inappropriate accessibility issues. It creates home living that is safe and accessible without sacrificing individuality. With our leaders calling this pandemic a war, why be on the front lines when you can choose to be a non-combatant by sheltering in place?
“For my older patients there are no potentially promising treatments available in this COVID-19 crisis. Sheltering in place is the only course of action that reliably gives seniors the possibility of a treatment benefit,” De La Pena said. “If seniors have already given up their right to age in place, they have no confidence that the possibility of a treatment benefit is in the offing.”
Now many seniors and retirees can see had everyone been able to truly shelter in place from the outset of the COVID-19 crisis, there would have been far fewer deaths in their demographic.
Instead, because of illness and disability and the choice of leaving their homes, many seniors were extra vulnerable while amassed in facilities other than their homes.
The concept of aging in place is as new as the agenda of collective living in retirement and yet it is lagging in importance. A major reason the concept is not widely advocated is business cannot make a great profit from sharing this information with the public.
Business can make a profit by building facilities and luring people out of their homes to be a part of a larger collective.
America has just received an enormous wakeup call about how dangerous this collective living can be. Again, if everyone deemed vulnerable who did not require daily medical attention could have self-quarantined our nation’s COVID-19 virus stats would look much better.
The government has created a new phrase in the last few years—disability free aging.
With the new pathogen pandemic connectedness apparent in the world it begs the question. Shouldn’t those seniors and retirees who are disability free be clinging to the independence and relative safety of living in their own homes.
“Again, while I visit a cross section of ages as patients in their homes, I am very concerned for our senior population with COVID 19 spreading. Aging in place is the safest form of defense for seniors now,” De La Pena said. “I plan on highlighting more government initiatives and programs to help seniors stay in their homes as long as possible. By performing aging in place assessments, I hope to empower more seniors to find ways to age in place as long as their home is a viable sanctuary.”
She recommends everyone with questions about the aging in place agenda visit this informative section of the federal Web site: www.nia.nih.gov/health/aging-place-growing-older-home
Steve Persa, 77, is staunchly an aging in place advocate in Oklahoma City. He sees this pandemic through the eyes of a retired Oklahoma Blood Institute employee who helped solve Oklahoma’s blood supply problems for decades.
“As long as I am healthy and mobile, I will continue to live in my home,” Persa said. “This latest COVID-19 shelter in place episode reinforces my resolve to do so.”
First Lady, Girl Scouts, OSMA Team Up to Provide Cookies for Courage
Oklahomans Urged to Send Cookies to Frontline Health Care Workers
First Lady Sarah Stitt, Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma (GSWESTOK), and the Oklahoma State Medical Association have launched Cookies for Courage, a program that allows Oklahomans to purchase a box of Girl Scout Cookies for medical professionals fighting COVID-19.
“Cookies for Courage is a great way for Oklahomans to let our health care workers know we are thinking of them during this very difficult time,” Stitt said. “Oklahomans always pull together in tough times, and this is a very sweet, very simple way to support our medical community as they work to protect us all.”
Cookies can be purchased online for $5 per box or $60 for a case at www.gswestok.org/cookiesforcourage. The cookies will be distributed to health care workers and others on the frontline. Proceeds from the program will support leadership opportunities for young girls through the Girl Scouts.
“Oklahoma’s physicians, nurses and other providers are working extended hours to keep our community safe during this health crisis. We are grateful to the Girl Scouts of Western Oklahoma and its members for providing this opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to those on the front lines of patient care,” said Oklahoma State Medical Association President Larry Bookman, M.D.
Girl Scout cookie season was set to run through March 22, but due to COVID-19, in-person sales have been paused. Individual Girl Scout troops have the option of returning their unsold cookies to GSWESTOK or continuing sales online through their individual Digital Cookie websites.
“Oklahomans always set the standard for how we care for our people,” said Shannon Evers, CEO of Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma. “Cookie season was cut short this year because of coronavirus, and while that’s disappointing for our girls, they recognize that there’s an opportunity here to show love for people who are fighting this pandemic on the front lines.”
Carl Reiner says keeping busy keeps him going
by Nick Thomas
Turning 97 in March, Carl Reiner shows no sign of slowing down. “I wake up with ideas!” the veteran actor, writer, director and producer says from Los Angeles says.
One of those ideas was to colorize episodes of his crown television jewel, “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” Two color episodes were produced in 2017 and last year Reiner selected a couple more favorites, with plots loosely based on his family’s experience, which aired on CBS over the holiday season.
“I’ve done a lot in my life but have to say that show is what I’m most proud of,” Reiner says. “We couldn’t afford to shoot it originally in color and make a profit, but I’m so pleased with the colorized episodes – they look fantastic.”
In “Where Did I Come From?” young Richie (Larry Matthews) questions his parents about his birth, much like Reiner’s own children did, while in “Never Bathe on Saturday,” Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) gets stuck in a hotel bathtub, ruining a vacation for hubby Rob (Dick Van Dyke).
“I wrote that based on the time my wife and I were away, and she noticed the faucet dripping while taking a bath and wanted to get a plumber,” Reiner recalls.
Reiner says it was important to produce colorized versions close to the originals.
“Luckily some enterprising photographers were on hand during the original filming and took color photos of the set and actors,” he notes. “So some colors are very accurate, like the rooms. Colorization has come a long way and I wish we could do all 158 episodes, but it’s very expensive.”
Reiner’s 2017 HBO documentary “If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast,” in which he narrates a series of interviews with active nonagenarians, was also recently released on DVD.
“In my opening section, I’m reading the newspaper obituary section and remark if I’m not in it, I’ll have breakfast,” he says. “They thought that would make a good title.”
The documentary features 90-plus-year-old guests still active in areas such as sports, fashion, music, comedy and acting such as Dick Van Dyke, Kirk Douglas and Reiner’s longtime cohort in comedy, Mel Brooks. “Truly a collection of remarkable people,” Reiner says.
But of all the people Reiner has known, he has the highest praise for his late wife, Estelle, to whom he was married for 65 years.
“While you do live in your memories as you get older and especially after losing a spouse, if you’ve had a good marriage it sustains you,” he says. “She was perhaps the most extraordinary woman I ever met and could do everything better than anyone else. I think about her every night I go to bed, so she’s still alive in me, no question.”
A prominent comedy writer throughout his career, Reiner also continues to work on new book projects this year.
“If you have something to do every day, you’ll hang around,” he says.
Commissioner Glen Mulready Comments on the Passing of Sen. Tom Coburn
Commissioner Mulready released the following statement on the passing of former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn:
“Tom Coburn was a friend, statesman and supporter of mine who will be greatly missed. Dr. Coburn was a fierce public policy leader and someone who wouldn’t shy away from working across the aisle to solve our state and national issues. When I was campaigning for Insurance Commissioner, I called Dr. Coburn and asked him to meet with me to discuss some healthcare and health insurance issues. He agreed to meet and graciously sat with me in his home for over an hour.”
“He also stepped out and provided support to me during my 2012 re-election campaign. He acknowledged and supported my efforts to address the challenges with our state’s healthcare and health insurance policies at a time when many of his supporters would not.”
“He will be greatly missed. Sally and I extend our heartfelt condolences and prayers to his family during this difficult time.”

www.caresuitesokc.com
SITUATION UPDATE: COVID-19
*As of this advisory, there are 481 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in Oklahoma. New counties with cases include Beckham, Cotton and Love counties. These counties will now be required to come into compliance with Governor Kevin Stitt’s “Safer at Home” executive order that calls for non-essential businesses in counties with COVID-19 cases to temporarily suspend services until April 16.
* There is an additional death in Cleveland County: a male in the 50-64 age group.
* There are 17 total deaths in the state.
* Governor Kevin Stitt issued Sunday evening a sixth amendment to Executive Order (EO) 2020-07, requiring travelers from six states to self-quarantine for 14 days, to include New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Louisiana, and Washington.
* Governor Stitt’s amended Executive Order also requires delivery personnel to submit to screenings when making deliveries at hospitals, clinics, long term care facilities and daycares. The EO also protects health care workers and their families from discrimination in housing or child care.
* REMINDER: Governor Stitt’s “Safer at Home” order includes the following guidelines for all 77 counties until April 30:
* No gatherings in groups larger than 10 people.
* People age 65 or older or those with a compromised immune system must shelter at home.
* PLEASE NOTE: Some local municipalities, to include Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Norman, have put into place law enforcement efforts to enforce the Governor’s order as well as the cities’ additional “shelter in place” policies.
* On both statewide and municipal levels, individuals can still leave for essential errands such as to grocery stores or pharmacies. Please call 2-1-1 or visit covidresources.ok.gov for resources and information.
* For more information, visit coronavirus.health.ok.gov.
This update is as of March 30, 2019.
















