OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Mayor David Holt gave an update Friday on Oklahoma City’s response to COVID-19.
He says more people have died in the last three weeks from COVID-19 than from the flu the whole flu season.
Holt says everyone’s in the middle of the fight against COVID-19, but there’s hope that what people are doing is helping to decrease the spread.
“We have some evidence to now believe, with cautious optimism, that our social distancing is working,” Holt said.
Holt is still encouraging people to wear cloth face coverings in public and to keep their distance.
“You’re going to have to be my partner in this. We don’t have an army,” he said.
There’s been a slight decrease in COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to the Oklahoma City-County Health Department.
Officials say they have enough testing supplies to last until next Thursday. They say they’re working to get more.
“We still don’t have the ability to plan for days and days in advance, which makes it difficult, but we have been receiving enough PPE and enough lab components to complete testing from day to day; and we are receiving it in a more timely fashion, and we are receiving a greater volume,” Dr. Patrick McGough, executive director of OCCHD, said.
The OCCHD is also collaborating with the Oklahoma Blood Institute to get plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients to give antibodies to the most sick.
Holt says he wants to get back to normal like everyone else, but his shelter in place order will run until at least April 30.
“The short answer to the question of how we’re doing is that relative to a normal virus, things are not going well at all, but relative to what COVID-19 is capable of, we’re maybe doing okay,” Holt said.
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