Stitt and Bynum: No plan for city of Tulsa or state of Oklahoma to reopen yet; new COVID-19 surge precautions being implemented

State and local officials said Friday that it is still too early for an “exact timeline” to reopen the economy.

In separate press conferences, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and Gov. Kevin Stitt spoke of “phased-in” approaches and the need for the adoption of new safety measures to prevent new outbreaks of coronavirus infections.

“I don’t want anyone to have the assumption that we go and flip a switch and everything is the way it was in February,” Bynum said via web cam from his home office. “I have not heard any public health professional suggest that that’s what ought to be done. I haven’t heard the governor suggest that. I haven’t heard the president suggest that — contrary to what seems to be interpreted by a lot of their statements.”

Stitt shared a much more optimistic outlook that a “phased-in” approach could begin in May but also stated, “I can’t give you an exact timeline.” He said decisions to ease social distancing measures ultimately “will be based on scientific data and information on the ground here in Oklahoma.”

“I know how badly many of you want to get back to normal,” Stitt said at a press conference held at an Oklahoma City hospital. “This is going to be a phased-in approach.”

Also on Friday, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, which has been tracking the coronavirus pandemic data, released a new, state-by-state analysis that listed Oklahoma among states that may need to wait until late June or early July to begin relaxing social distancing mandates to prevent a second wave of infections.

States in the same boat include Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah.

“We are seeing the numbers decline because some state and local governments, and, equally important, individuals around the country have stepped up to protect their families, their neighbors, and friends and co-workers by reducing physical contact,” said IHME Director Christopher Murray.

“Now the challenge — as well as opportunity — is for states to figure out how to reopen the U.S. economy and allow people to get back to work without sacrificing that progress. Relaxing social distancing too soon carries great risks of a resurgence of new infections. No one wants to see this vicious cycle repeating itself.”

States including Hawaii, Montana, Vermont and West Virginia may be able to start relaxing social distancing, according to IHME, as early as May 4 as long as “robust containment strategies” are implemented.

Stitt commended Oklahomans for their efforts to date and urged them to stay the course.

“We’re doing a good job. Hang in there a little bit longer,” he said. “We’ve got to continue this, continue to watch these curves flatten out. We’re going to get there, but we will start slowly stepping back in in early May.”

State officials said their two main focuses right now are increasing access to testing and ramping up contact tracing, which is a systematic identification of those people who have been in close contact with someone with the virus to try to halt its spread.

Both, Stitt said, are critical for continuing to “flatten the curve” and for the future control of infection spread when the time comes for Oklahomans to return to work, restaurants, stores and churches.

In response to concerns about limited access to COVID testing here, Stitt said two mobile testing sites have been added in Tulsa — at medical facilities operated by the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.

And state officials said medical students from both of those universities were being tapped as a resource to step up contact-tracing efforts.

Bynum was emphatic that two conditions must be met before Tulsans can begin to “roll back” some of the social distancing practices in place in the community.

“Do you have that steady decline of positive tests, and, two, does your hospital system have the capacity to handle the number of hospitalizations that you’re seeing?” he said.

He said he has been consulting with owners of restaurants and salons and park directors about new precautions they need to take when commerce and public places reopen.

“This is as much about public confidence as anything else,” Bynum said. The governor could lift every order tomorrow — I could do the same — but if Tulsans don’t feel safe to go to businesses around our community because they think that things were just opened up willy-nilly without any acknowledgement that there’s still a virus that most people in our community aren’t immune to, then they’re not going to go and shop, they’re not going to restaurant and retail facilities.”

Managing Editor Mike Strain contributed to this story.

Video: An update to Tulsans from Dr. Bruce Dart and Mayor G.T. Bynum