On Friday, Gov. Kevin Stitt announced a comprehensive hospital surge plan to ensure Oklahoma is prepared to handle a surge in demand on hospital and health care systems due to the Chinese coronaviruse pandemic.

The health model projects Oklahoma’s peak hospital demand will be on April 23. The model projects Oklahomans will require 1,115 hospital beds, 229 ICU beds and 195 ventilators.

Stitt and health officials gave an update from the Strategic National Stockpile warehouse on what is being done to distribute PPE to protect health care workers and first responders.

Oklahoma has 5,600 hospital beds, 958 ICU beds and almost 2,000 ventilators positioned across the state.

In addition, Oklahoma has 4 million pairs of gloves, 120,000 hospital gowns, 173,000 face shields and goggles, about 900,000 masks, and 110,000 respirators.

The State also accesses 54 telehealth units, which will be deployed to a majority of Oklahoma counties to enhance treatment of COVID-19 patients in rural communities.”

Stitt’s hospital plan has hospitals increasing their capacities by 40%. Patients currently in hospitals will stay where they are, and new patients will be kept in their geographic region as possible.

The OSU Medical Center in Tulsa and a hospital in the Oklahoma City metro will be used as flex sites designed to focus on COVID-19 patients. 

The last phase, if needed, will feature facilities constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with assistance from the Oklahoma National Guard.

Stitt said one of his top goals is keeping health care workers safe and asked any health care workers that feel they are being asked to use personal protective equipment in a manner that is not recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to call his office so he can contact the hospital to find out if they are receiving enough supplies or if there is some other problem.

“If you’re short on PPE or if your hospital is asking you to preserve it beyond the CDC guidelines, I need to hear about it,” Stitt said.

While these numbers show Oklahoma is in good shape with PPE, Stitt reiterated that Oklahoma is still preparing for a surge on hospital capacity.