The decision by a three-person panel on Monday evening allows federal Judge Charles Goodwin’s order issued on April 6 to stand, which partially and temporarily blocked the state’s ban on most abortions in the state during the pandemic.
The state has enough hospital beds, intensive care beds and ventilators to treat the sickest COVID-19 patients, the governor said Friday.
Up until the past week, the health department used a COVID-19 test form with an optional inquiry for race and ethnicity. Less than 25 percent of people answered.
A federal judge on Monday partially blocked Oklahoma’s ban on most abortions during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the state had acted in an “unreasonable” and “oppressive” way by restricting abortion access.
The lack of information changed over the weekend when private labs reported more than 6,000 negative test results going as far back as early February, according to the state health department.
“We are releasing this information on long term care facilities in the hope that is can provide relief for those with family members with loved ones who reside there.”
The Oklahoma State Department of Health released the numbers for the first time in a report on Thursday evening.
“The more testing we do the more we understand what’s going on out in our communities across our state. It helps us to better look into the future through modeling of that data.”
