OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Governor Kevin Stitt said during a press conference today that Oklahoma is the 6th lowest when it comes to COVID-19 infections in the continental United States.
“However, just because we’re in good shape and the data continues to trend in our favor does not mean we can take our foot off the gas,” Stitt said.
Governor Stitt said based on the current data Oklahoma is still on track to enter phase 2 of the re-opening plan on May 15th.
Meanwhile, people in our state are still encouraged to get tested for COVID-19.
“Even if you don’t have symptoms and you’re just curious and you think you need to get tested we have plenty of testing in the state of Oklahoma. We want you to go get tested,” said Stitt.
More supplies are on the way to help Oklahomans. A quarter of a million N-95 masks are expected to arrive this week from FEMA. The federal government will also be providing Oklahoma with an additional 90,000 testing swabs.
“We’re upping our antibody testing which I think is going to give Oklahoman’s a lot of confidence that you know 5 to 10 percent of the population may have already been asymptomatic and already started developing antibodies,” he said.
Secretary of Digital Transformation, David Ostrowe says as of Wednesday morning the state has received more than 417,000 unemployment claims.
“Keep in mind that this system was designed for between 1,500 and 2,500 claims per week and so to go to these levels are just astronomical,” said Ostrowe.
Ostrowe says the state has received about 6,700 unemployment claims they have deemed as fraud.
The O.S.B.I. and F.B.I are now working to identify the people behind those false claims.
“Like any type of natural disaster or any type of incident we have people that are gaming us. We have some fraud,” he said.
If you know of someone trying to claim unemployment under your name, the state wants to hear from you.
You can notify the unemployment commission through email at fraud@oesc.state.ok.us
