State Department Of Health Not Answering Questions About Spike in COVID Cases

As Oklahoma welcomes thousands to Tulsa for President Trump’s reelection rally, the state is seeing a spike in cases of COVID-19. 

In the past two days we’ve seen 800-new cases of COVID-19 in Oklahoma, and no one at the Oklahoma State Department of Health will answer our questions on camera.

The State Department of Health did release a vague statement saying,

“As expected, we have seen an increase in the number of COVID-19 positive cases caused by ongoing community transmission and increased social activity.”

The Department of Health is not answering questions about what numbers they did expect and how they arrived at those figures. 

“This rise in numbers is not due to the increased testing like a lot of people are attributing it too. We’ve seen a higher number of cases since March since the governor first shut down the non-essential businesses.” Shelly Wells with The Oklahoma Nurses Association said. “We’ve seen people getting out more, we’ve seen larger assemblies of people all since the end of May. And if you look at the patterns of how COVID unfolds this would be about the time that we would see the consequences of those large gatherings and people getting out and around.”

That brings up concerns about the president’s visit to Saturday.

“Every one of those people that attends that event will leave that event and go back to their place of employment, go back to the grocery store, and I think we all have to look out for each other,” said Mary Brinkley of LeadingAge Oklahoma. 

“They are the ones that are working in stores and restaurants and health care facilities and nursing homes spreading the virus around without knowing it,” Wells added.