
Some students wear masks but others don’t as they line up at recess on the first day of school at Broken Arrow’s new Rosewood Elementary School on Sept. 3.
Three Oklahoma physicians and a child advocacy group pleaded with the Oklahoma State Board of Education on Thursday for a statewide mandate for face masks in public schools, but the board left the matter up to local decision-makers.
The Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy recently launched a $15,000 billboard advertising campaign and an online petition drive calling for a change of heart by a majority of state board members, who voted in late July to make safety protocols only “strong recommendations,” not requirements.
Three medical doctors from around the state spoke in support of the push for a statewide mandate, but ultimately, the board voted unanimously to adopt a resolution that “implores Oklahoma school boards and district superintendents to require students and staff to wear face masks on public school campuses and within district vehicles, and especially when in classrooms or other large gatherings.”
Oklahoma City-based Dr. Steve Crawford, co-chair of the Oklahoma Academy of Family Physicians’ legislative committee, said he has been helping guide many local school districts with guidelines to reopen safely.
“We do know now that masks absolutely make a difference in diminishing the transmission of this infection,” Crawford said, saying the most important safety tactic for holding in-person classes is masking, “and that’s down to kindergartners and younger.”
“I fear if we don’t do this, our schools will close,” Crawford said.
Dr. Dwight Sublett, a pediatrician who has worked for 37 years in Stillwater, said he is concerned that infected young children, who are commonly “nonsymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic,” may be spreading coronavirus to their own families and their teachers.
“It is time that we readdress this issue. I strongly encourage you to reconsider your vote on this matter,” Sublett said.
“We now know that if we use a multilayer cloth mask, it is effective not only for large droplets but also smaller droplets. We can reduce (transmission) by 70 percent,” he said. “I think we can save some lives along the way, too.”
Dr. David Kendrick, who practices internal medicine and pediatrics in Tulsa and operates a health information exchange system that connects hospitals, clinics, labs and tribes across the state, showed the board maps and charts documenting the dramatic uptick in the rate of rise in positive COVID tests and higher rates of cases in municipalities without masking mandates as compared to those with mandates.
Featured video: Oklahoma governor talks about a statewide mask mandate on Nov. 10
Gallery: Time-travel to last week with election photos taken on expired film
Election Film

A Trump 2020 flag flies on the sidewalk in downtown Collinsville on Election Day.
Election Film

I met first-time voter Jack Heaberlin when he showed up on a skateboard to vote at All Souls Unitarian Church. Heaberlin turned 18 four days before Election Day.
Election Film

Cooper Harrison walks near All Souls Unitarian Church as voters line up to cast ballots on Election Day.
Election Film

Don Brookshire waits for work to be finished on his truck on Election Day. The 84-year-old voted, but it was just one of his errands for the day.
Election Film

Dustin Trout shows off his "I voted" sticker after voting in Collinsville.
Election Film

"Choose love" and "BLM" can be seen painted on the windows of a house near downtown on Election Day.
Election Film

Jonathan Kincaid talked to me after pulling into the parking lot of the Tulsa County Election Board. The location he thought was his polling place was closed, so he drove to the Election Board to find out where his new polling location was. "It's my civic duty," he said of voting. He added, "My ancestors worked too hard for (the right to vote) for me not to vote."
Election Film

A "Trump 2020" flag flies mounted on the back of a pickup in downtown Collinsville.
Election Film

Mark Hrachovec removes campaign signs from his front yard in Owasso shortly before the polls close on Election Day.
Election Film

Kiel Tate stands in his front yard on election night with his American flag and large Trump 2020 banners in the background. He says he feels confident about the election. He laments the fact that the homeowners association made him cover up the profanity on his Trump banners.
Election Film

As vote counting extended on Nov. 5, 2020, a front plate on a car in Owasso proclaims that we are, "One nation under God."
Election Film

Ron Paris poses outside the Walmart Supercenter in Owasso. He had been drinking coffee with a group of men inside at the McDonald's and wearing his Donald Trump hat.
Election Film

Two friends walk to Walmart in Owasso on Nov. 5, 2020. They didn't cast ballots and told me in Oklahoma it doesn't matter if you vote. The man in the camouflage hat, who preferred not to give his name, is disappointed the election is so close. He accuses President Trump of treason and says he's an awful man. His friend Ryan Hopkins disagrees and says Joe Biden can't form a complete sentence. If Hopkins had voted, it would've been for President Trump.
Election Film

I don't think I ever look at the BOK Tower without thinking of the country's darkest day. Downtown is empty on Nov. 6, 2020, and we are in dark times again with hundreds of thousands dead due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Vote counting continues in several states in the presidential election.
Election Film

"I let this election pass me by," Frenzo Willis says as he sips a beer from a straw on Nov. 5. I explain to him that these cameras I'm shooting with are toys and that you really don't know if the photos will be good or not. He asks, "Then why are you using them?" Good question, Frenzo, and I don't really have an answer.
Election Film

On my way to the Botanic Garden in the Osage Hills. It's three days since Election Day, and they're still counting.
Election Film

As I drive through the Osage Hills on my way to the Tulsa Botanic Garden for an assignment, I cannot quit thinking about the nonpartisan candlelight vigil I photographed on the eve of the election. A speaker recited verses from Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land." Respondents replied with the chorus in unison, "This land was made for you and me."
Election Film

A truck in west Tulsa.
Election Film

A double exposure: President-elect Joe Biden was announced on this day, Nov. 7, 2020. The next day a woman stocks a tiny food pantry in downtown Owasso.
Election Film

A yard sign in west Tulsa is pictured two days after Joe Biden made his first speech as president-elect.
Election Film

A tattered flag hangs on a fence in west Tulsa.
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