Bartlesville Radio: The area’s best source for news, weather and sports!

Governor Kevin Stitt along with state and local leaders met with White House Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx Sunday afternoon during a roundtable discussion at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences.

The conversation centered around Oklahoma’s COVID-19 response, testing strategies regarding college and K-12 school settings, and data trends from other states.

Dr. Birx discussed the need for mitigation actions specifically tailored to conditions in local communities and praised Oklahoma’s push to use saliva testing. 

“She was very complimentary of our testing plan and what we’re doing with our universities,” said Gov. Stitt. “I had Secretary of Science and Innovation Elizabeth Pollard discussing our strategy, and Dr. Birx said she’s going to take that back with her and share some of it with the other states she is visiting.”

Oklahoma’s 7-day average of new positive cases has declined 38% since its highest level a few weeks ago. Dr. Birx told Gov. Stitt that while trends were moving in the right direction, it is important to remain vigilant and continue to have a plan if things change.

“There are a lot of levers we can pull, but at this point we are in really good shape," continued Gov. Stitt. "We have to be very cautious as kids are going back to school. That’s why Oklahomans need to continue to social distance, and wear masks when they cannot maintain their distance so we can keep up this positive trend that we’re on right now.”  

Meeting attendees included: