Name: Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt tests positive for coronavirus
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Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt tests positive for coronavirus

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Carmen Forman Gov. Kevin Stitt tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, becoming the first governor to have caught the highly contagious virus.Despite the diagnosis, Stitt said Wednesday he has no plans to enforce stricter measures to reduce the surge of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Oklahoma.Oklahoma's first-term Republican governor announced his positive test results on a conference call with reporters."I personally get tested periodically throughout this whole thing," Stitt said. "I got tested yesterday for COVID-19 and the results came back positive." The governor was first tested for COVID-19 on June 18 ahead of an event at the White House.Stitt said he is feeling fine, despite minor aches. He has not developed a fever. He plans to work from home and self-isolate from his family and others until the state's top health official recommends otherwise.First Lady Sarah Stitt and the Stitts' six children tested negative for the virus, the governor said.Stitt's announcement comes as and Stitt's administration has been criticized for not doing more to respond to the state's growing number of positive cases and hospitalizations.After making his diagnosis public, Stitt said he still opposes implementing a statewide mask mandate, saying he can't fathom how such a policy would be enforced.Although Stitt has when social distancing is not possible, Stitt rarely wears a mask in public. Public health officials say wearing a mask in public can reduce the spread of COVID-19.Stitt also reiterated his hesitance to backtrack on the state's reopening. Although hospitalizations due to complications from COVID-19 have nearly surpassed the peak the state set on March 31, Stitt said Oklahoma is not coming close to reaching its hospital capacity.Oklahoma would have to see roughly 7,200 new positive cases every day for 14 days for the state to approach its hospital capacity, Stitt said."That’s plenty of runway for us to look, and watch, and make adjustments as we need to going forward," he said.But Oklahoma State Medical Association President George Monks said the situation in Oklahoma's hospitals is more dire. Hospital and intensive care unit capacity is growing tight, he said.State leaders also say they have a surge plan to create additional hospital capacity, but it's going to be nearly impossible to find nurses and doctors to staff those additional beds, making them useless, Monks said."It’s insensitive and immoral just to say, ‘we have plenty of bed space, so let’s just let things keep going,'" he said. "It's not a good approach to managing this virus."Monks also is calling on the State Department of Health to release detailed data about the number of available hospital and ICU beds at hospitals throughout the state.Stitt attended President Donald Trump's June 20 campaign rally in Tulsa, and was photographed not wearing a mask. Stitt and Health Commissioner Lance Frye said there is no way the governor could have caught COVID-19 at the rally because the event was nearly a month ago."I don't think there was any way it was at the president's rally," Stitt said. "It was too long ago for it to be dormant, based on the science."Where Stitt became infected is unknown as it could have happened anytime in the past two weeks, Frye said.Stitt is the first governor to test positive for the virus. As he was fielding questions from reporters, Stitt said he was likely getting lots of texts from other governors. Stitt said he plans to be open with other leaders and the public about how he is feeling in the coming days.'I was pretty shocked that I was the first governor to get it," he said. By Wednesday afternoon, Stitt was trending on Twitter.On Tuesday, Stitt led a Commissioners of the Land Office meeting at the state Capitol and sat at a conference table near Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell and Secretary of Agriculture Blayne Arthur. Despite being in close quarters, neither Stitt nor Pinnell wore a mask. Stitt said he contacted Pinnell and Arthur after receiving his positive diagnosis.In a Facebook post, Pinnell said he plans to get tested for COVID-19 and will quarantine at home until he receives his results.Stitt also said he worked with Frye and contact tracers at the State Department of Health to determine others he may have come in contact with in recent days. The governor said leadership at the Health Department said he was not contagious before Saturday, but it's unclear how they came to that conclusion.A Vietnamese restaurant in Tulsa where Stitt dined last week announced its temporary closure in order to get staff tested and the space professionally disinfected. On Thursday, Stitt and his wife attended the funeral for fallen Tulsa Police Sergeant Craig Johnson. Later the same day, the governor hosted a press conference at the state Capitol.

Carmen Forman Gov. Kevin Stitt tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, becoming the first governor to have caught the highly contagious virus.Despite the diagnosis, Stitt said Wednesday he has no plans to enforce stricter measures to reduce the surge of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Oklahoma.Oklahoma's first-term Republican governor announced his positive test results on a conference call with reporters."I personally get tested periodically throughout this whole thing," Stitt said. "I got tested yesterday for COVID-19 and the results came back positive." The governor was first...

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt tests positive for coronavirus

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