Stitt bows to pressure to release White House reports on coronavirus

Following complaints from local Oklahoma officials who say they have been kept out of the loop, Gov. Kevin Stitt said his administration will make public coronavirus reports the state receives from the White House.

Stitt has not been releasing the reports from the White House Coronavirus Task Force, nor implementing many of the public health recommendations in those reports.

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, a Republican, said the city had not received copies of reports that have been critical of Oklahoma's handling of the pandemic. U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn, D-Oklahoma City, on Friday accused Stitt of hiding the task force’s recommendations.

The latest report, first published by the Center for Public Integrity, shows Oklahoma is one of nine states in the “red zone” for coronavirus infections because of more than 100 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people.

The report recommends Oklahoma implement a statewide mask mandate, close gyms and bars and limit social gatherings to curb the virus. The report also lists specific guidance for counties, such as Tulsa, that are seeing high rates of COVID-19 infections.

Horn said she also finds it troubling Stitt isn’t adopting the task force’s state-level recommendations.

“Our communities can’t make the best decisions, schools — all of the people who are trying to do the best they can — cannot do that in the absence of information,” Horn said. “And they particularly can’t do that when the information that is coming out of the governor’s office flatly contradicts the recommendations and information coming out of the coronavirus task force.”

Stitt said he received the latest report on Monday, a day after he met with White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, who visited Tulsa as part of a multi-state tour. After her visit, Stitt said she was complimentary of Oklahoma's efforts, and didn't make any recommendations for the state in its efforts to deal with the deadly virus.

Birx was not made available to the media before, during or after her meeting with Stitt and other state officials, although she has fielded questions in other states where she has made similar visits.

A spokeswoman for the Stitt said the governor and Birx did not discuss the latest task force report during their meeting Sunday.

The latest task force report was shared this week with the Oklahoma City-County Health Department and the Tulsa Health Department, Stitt said in a statement.

As of Thursday, Bynum said Tulsa still hadn’t received a copy.

“That’s all data that, of course, we would like to know,” Bynum said. “If there’s information being shared about Tulsa, we would certainly want to know about it. The governor last week seemed surprised it had not been shared with us.”

Bynum said he also was surprised when Birx said Sunday that eight White House reports had been issued. He said he was only aware of one that had been previously leaked to the media.

Stitt said Friday he will ask that the White House reports be made publicly available to everyone.

“We have asked the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) to begin making the reports publicly available each week by posting them to the coronavirus.health.ok.gov dashboard,” he said.

Stitt also defended the coronavirus prevention measures taken by his administration. He pointed to a recently issued Public Health Advisory that recommends Oklahomans age 11 and older in counties with moderate or high risk of COVID-19 transmission wear a face mask in public.

The advisory also recommends all Oklahomans in communal living facilities and those that are at a higher risk of facing complications from the virus wear a mask in public settings.

Staff writer Chris Casteel contributed to this report.