Custer Co. up to 26 cases, 14 active

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Custer County has 26 COVID-19 cases, 14 of which are active.

Due to an executive order expiring Sunday, the Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) is not being required to release cities of COVID-19 patients.

OSDH did report Custer County had 26 cases, up from 20 this past Monday. Since the state is no longer reporting cities, there is no way to know for sure how many of the eight new cases are in Weatherford.

Also of note, Tuesday’s numbers do not include Blaine, Dewey or Washita counties anymore. Friday, Blaine County had six, Dewey County had four and Washita County had two cases.

The surrounding counties that do have numbers showing are Beckham County, 10, and Caddo County, 164.

Active cases are Beckham County, four, and Caddo County, 40.

According to information from OSDH, the department announced its COVID-19 data tracker, located at coronavirus.health.ok.gov, will continue reporting active and recovered COVID-19 cases by county only, as permitted by state law, and the agency will no longer be able to publish COVID-19 data by city, zip code or by long-term care and nursing home facility due to the State’s Catastrophic Emergency Declaration expiring May 31, 2020.

OSDH and the office of Gov. Kevin Stitt are exploring additional legal opinions and solutions to ensure the public, the medical community and elected leaders can access relevant COVID-19 data that will allow for quick and effective decision-making while Oklahoma awaits a treatment or vaccine to mute the novel virus.

“OSDH will continue to publish daily the most recent active and recovered COVID-19 cases by county,” OSDH Communications Director Kristin Davis said. “The state’s infrastructure is in a much stronger position for continuing to address the presence of COVID-19, and the core purpose of the emergency declaration is no longer needed. At the same time, Gov. Stitt and Commissioner Lance Frye continue their shared commitment to transparency and availability of critical COVID-19 data. They have tasked the state’s legal experts to explore other options for providing critical health data which would support all stakeholders’ decision making during the presence of COVID-19, while also safeguarding Oklahomans’ protected health information.”

The legislature first granted the governor’s request for a Catastrophic Emergency Health declaration April 7, and the declaration was later extended through the end of May. Under the declaration, the governor was able to redirect state agency resources and state employee efforts to respond to the COVID-19 crisis and was able to activate the Oklahoma National Guard.