Quotes of the Day

“(N)urse staffing is critical in Oklahoma, but the presence of COVID-19 and the capability for our numbers to increase has the ability to cripple our staffing if those rates climb.”

-Michele Bradshaw, a nurse and leader at Midwest Regional Medical [The Oklahoman]

“It’s a possibility. Everything is on the table as we are in uncharted territory. This is changing so rapidly as the CDC gives more recommendations to us. So we’ll take that as it comes.”

-Gov. Kevin Stitt, when asked hypothetically if he would follow any recommendations from health officials to put all Oklahoma restaurants, bars and theaters under the same restrictions implemented by the mayors of Oklahoma City, Norman, Tulsa and other cities [NonDoc] 

“We may not prevent the complete transmission of this disease, but what we’re trying to slow is the fact that we may overwhelm the health care system capacity.”

-Dr. Dale Bratzler, enterprise chief quality officer at OU Medicine [The Frontier]

“One of the most important things about testing to remember is: Testing isn’t going to make the epidemic go away. What makes the epidemic go away is social distancing and hand washing.”

David Chansolme, medical director of infection prevention at Integris Health [The Oklahoman]

“Saying we’ll cut off (Medicaid) coverage if people don’t pay a symbolic premium when all of the bars are closing and all the restaurants are eliminating their wait staff right now, is just incredibly tone deaf.”

-Carly Putnam, Policy Director and Health Care Analyst for OK Policy, discussing the release of Gov. Stitt’s health care proposal during a national health emergency [Oklahoma Watch]

“This is an extraordinary moment. But that does not mean that the government is not without restraint or should be given a license to operate in secrecy. In fact, more than ever, we need to have confidence in our government, to have a clear sense of how they are responding to this crisis.”

-Ryan Kiesel, a former state representative who serves as the American Civil Liberties Union’s executive director in Oklahoma [NonDoc]

“While impact in Oklahoma has continued to be relatively minimal to date, it is increasingly important for Oklahoma to be ready for this threat.”

-Gov. Kevin Stitt writing Oklahoma’s state of emergency declaration in response to the COVID-19 pandemic [The Oklahoman]

“Panic is the toughest thing to deal with. We want people to be educated and informed… but we don’t want people to panic.”

-House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, about responses to COVID-19 pandemic [NonDoc]

“Our state has an incarceration crisis, and we are not going to solve it by increasing prison sentences for nonviolent crimes, something the people of Oklahoma said they do not want.”

-Kris Steele, executive director of Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform [The Oklahoman]

“Year after year after year our retired employees of the state of Oklahoma have lost ground, not by inches but by miles, every year as the cost of living increases. We are way past time on giving retirees of the state a cost-of-living adjustment.”

-Rep. David Perryman, D-Chickasha [The Journal Record ????]