Commissioners Receive COVID Update

by Elizabeth Pitts-Hibbard
DISTANCING: The Stephens County Commissioners moved their regular meeting to Territory Hall at the Fairgrounds so that attendees could observe social distancing standards, sitting six feet apart while participating. DISTANCING: The Stephens County Commissioners moved their regular meeting to Territory Hall at the Fairgrounds so that attendees could observe social distancing standards, sitting six feet apart while participating.

The Stephens County Commissioners were “socially distancing” on Monday when their regular meeting was moved to the Territory Room at the Stephens County Fair and Expo Center and once again opened to the public after conducting the past three meetings via conference call.

Emergency Management director Gary Curtis reported that the State was sending out Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to most agencies and that there was an additional positive case of COVID-19 in Stephens County that would be reported later Monday when the Oklahoma State Department of Health issued its daily report, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the county to 14. [EDITOR NOTE: as of press time, there are currently 15 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Stephens County]

“We’re sort of holding our own here in Stephens County,” Curtis said.

He also said that the Tribes had come together to lobby Governor Stitt to impose a “Stay at Home” [Shelter in Place] order, but he didn’t believe the Governor would do so.

Curtis described a phone app utilized by the health department that analyzes data collected from cell phones in order to determine the amount of travel by citizens throughout the state and compares the data with other counties, assigning that level of mobility a grade level from A to F. He said that the travel throughout Stephens County was at a level consistent with a D rating, but that amount was comparable to most other counties in the state at this time. He also said there were no counties with an A rating.

Curtis said that the drive-through testing conducted by the Health Department last week had yielded one positive test among the 120 that were performed that day, and that all results of those tests had been returned on Friday. He also confirmed that the one positive test from that program was for a resident of another county.

Later in the meeting, District 2 Commissioner Todd Churchman presented the other Board members with information regarding decontamination services provided by DAM Services of Edmond, in the event that the Commissioners would like to utilize the service for county barns and vehicles.