Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, blasted President Joe Biden after Biden revealed his demands that all Americans submit to vaccination for the Chinese coronavirus.

“The Oklahoma Legislature acted aggressively this session to stop unconstitutional federal overreach like President Biden proposed,” said McCall. “We saw this coming and are already prepared to block it in Oklahoma. This type of unilateral overreach is precisely why House Bill 1236 and the additional litigation funds for the attorney general were such big priorities this session.

“I applaud the attorney general for utilizing the tools the Legislature provided to defend Oklahoma’s rights as a state. President Biden is about to see the U.S. Constitution still matters in Oklahoma. This isn’t the only unconstitutional Biden administration action Oklahoma needs to challenge. Our country is a republic of states, not a monarchy, and the president does not have the constitutional authority to issue these type of edicts.”

HB 1236 established an intrabranch process for legal challenges of federal rules, executive orders or Congressional actions harmful to the rights of Oklahomans and the state of Oklahoma. It passed the Legislature and was signed into law in May, with an immediate effective date. The bill was principally authored by McCall and Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore, and coauthored by nearly all 82 members of the House Republican Caucus.

Meanwhile, Tulsa and the rest of the nation are still battling infections of the Chinese coronavirus.

Reports have surfaced that the virus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, that was financed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and involved gain-of-function research.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who directed the funding, told Congress that the EcoHealth Alliance did not pay for gain-of-function testing.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, said Fauci lied in front of Congress and that U.S. funds did wind up financing deadly gain-of-function viral research in Wuhan and that was the source of the worldwide infection.

As of September 8, Tulsa has had 57,837 confirmed cases of the Chinese coronavirus with 854 deaths and 54,481 recovered patients.

Oklahoma City has had 81,141 confirmed cases with 1,130 deaths and 76,059 recoveries.

Tulsa County has had 96,102 confirmed cases with 90,763 recoveries and 1,312 deaths.

As of September 9, there were 27,332 active cases of the coronarvirus in Oklahoma with 18,635 patients who had recovered. The Oklahoma Department of Health reported 207 deaths that were attributed to the coronavirus.

Since the pandemic began, there have been 568,874 confirmed cases statewide with 533,334 confirmed recoveries. In Oklahoma, 8,208 people have died  and 32,675 people have been hospitalized since the pandemic started.

The seven-day average of new cases is approximately 2,532.

The average ago of patients is 39 years and the average age of those who died is 74. Patients who are age 50 or older comprise 32% of the cases while those 50 and older make up 94% of the deaths due to the coronavirus.

According to health officials, 3,906,825 doses of vaccine have been administered in Oklahoma since the outbreak began 2,144,418 people getting at least one dose and 1,768,580 labeled as “fully vaccinated,”

In the category of people age 12 or older, Tulsa County has had 70.4% of its population get at least one dose of vaccine. That number is 74.4% for Oklahoma County, 51.8% for Rogers County, 48.5% for Okmulgee County, 53.1% for Wagoner County, 48.9% for Creek County, 39.4% for Osage County and 50.8% for Washington County.

In the United States on September 8, there were 40,456,711 confirmed cases with 652,657 deaths. The daily average of new cases nationwide was 176,710 and the average number of deaths was 2,146.