News

KOSU is continuing to cover the developing story around coronavirus in Oklahoma. Bookmark this page for the latest updates.

Oklahoma lawmakers passed several bills on Monday to fill a budget shortfall and give Governor Kevin Stitt emergency powers during the health crisis.

Three bills that passed overwhelmingly by the House and Senate would take $500 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to fix a $416 million hole in the current fiscal year budget.

Oklahoma has a better picture of the preparedness of local hospitals, how much testing is being done and how much of the state’s healthcare capacity that is currently being used.

In a press release about the number of coronavirus tests performed by private labs since February, the Oklahoma State Department of Health released the Governor’s status report.

State prisons are isolating prisoners in their cells to limit opportunities for coronavirus to spread.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections says the new measure, normally reserved to prevent prison violence, is aggressive but necessary. The prison agency says its staff will bring prisoners their food, medicine and other necessities to prevent groups of prisoners from gathering.

Class is back in session for many of Oklahoma's 700,000 public school students — at a distance — for five more weeks.

After three weeks of no instruction due to closures for COVID-19, the state’s schools are back to educating children. But school buildings will remain closed.

Instruction is incredibly varied throughout the state, and because about a quarter of students don’t have home internet, much of it is done through paper packets.

The nonprofit Oklahoma Policy Institute reports 1,137 evictions have been filed in Oklahoma since mid-March and there have been nearly 159 foreclosures. Those numbers are as of April 1.

The evictions and foreclosure notices were filed after a statewide emergency was declared and evictions were suspended due to the coronavirus.

Five more Oklahomans have died due to COVID-19, increasing the state's death toll to 51. The deaths reported Monday include: