Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum is pushing an ordinance that would require Tulsans to wear a mask in public. 

“I have said if and when Dr. Dart recommends a mask requirement, based on trend data, I would proceed to put one in place,” Bynum said. “Today he made that recommendation and today I have directed the City Legal Department to draft an ordinance for consideration by the Tulsa City Council at their meeting (July 15). The legal teams at both the City of Tulsa and the Tulsa Health Department believe an order of this nature should be made via ordinance, so that is the way we will proceed.”

If a mask mandate is put in place, enforcement and exemptions in the mandate itself  would be the biggest hurdle for implementation.

On July 13, there have been 5,267 cases in Tulsa County with 76 deaths.

Tulsa’s hospital capacity remains strong. Health officials continue to track trends. 

There are locations that often come up as places where clusters of COVID-19 exposure have taken place. These are weddings, funerals, faith-based activities, bars, gyms, house gatherings and other small events. Disease transmission is likely to occur in these locations because they involve larger numbers people in close contact.

To be tested for COVID-19, call the Tulsa Health Department at 918-582-9355 or visit www.tulsa-health.org/COVID19.

Last week, the Mayor issued an executive order mandating restaurant and bar employees to wear masks while on the job. Places like coffee shops also apply to this order. The order also mandates any events happening on or after July 16 that will have more than 500 attendees to submit a COVID-19 safety plan to the Tulsa Health Department for approval.The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) has launched a new COVID-19 alert system concerning risk levels around the state.

“This new COVID-19 alert system marries OSDH’s robust data reporting with additional public health steps that should be considered county by county to confront elevated risks of community spread,” said Interim Health Commissioner Lance Frye, M.D. “The color-coded system is an easy way for business owners, local leaders, and the public to know at a glance when extra precautions should be taken.”

Each color category is based on daily new cases per 100,000 population. The color-coded county map will be updated every Friday as part of the  11 a.m. Situation Media Advisory and will be based on the 7-day rolling average (see chart).

OSDH will deem a county as in a high-risk phase if the county is reporting more than 14.39 daily new cases per 100,000 and one or more of the four thresholds occur in the State within a given week. 

• Statewide ICU threshold: Percent of ICU beds available <5% statewide
• Statewide Medical/Surgical threshold: Percent of medical surgery beds available <5% statewide
• Statewide Ventilator threshold: Percent of ventilators available <5% statewide
• Facility PPE threshold: Average days of PPE on hand and available < 5 days statewide

As of Monday, there were 20,745 confirmed positive cases in Oklahoma. There have been 424 deaths in Oklahoma.

In Oklahoma, there have been more than 423,285 tests for the virus with more than 400,037 negative tests. There are about 499 Oklahomans in hospitals with the coronarvirus. So far, almost 2,000 people in Oklahoma have been hospitalized due to the pandemic.