On Tuesday, the state reported 374 Oklahomans were hospitalized. The number has been trending briskly upward, up nearly 90 percent compared to June 19 when there were 197 hospitalizations.

The letter comes on the same day The Frontier reported board member Allen McCall sent multiple emails to the board’s executive director, threatening to accuse him of unspecified criminal activities if he didn’t seek an opinion from the attorney general.

The executive director of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board requested a leave of absence last week after a board member threatened him with a grand jury investigation if he did not seek to reverse a legal opinion that death row inmates are eligible for commutation hearings.

The Frontier is tracking confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, in an effort to inform people where the virus is spreading.

“We are so far away from talking about this, again we just have to learn how to live with it,” Stitt said Thursday about implementing new social distancing restrictions amid a rise in coronavirus cases in Oklahoma.

As Oklahoma for several days has recorded highs in new coronavirus cases, local leaders and health experts in the largest cities say it’s a “critical" time for the state as they look to curb cases and preserve hospital capacity.

“As a black queer Muslim from Oklahoma I think what people have latched on to is the type of inclusiveness I represent,” Mauree Turner said. “We live in one of the most liberal places in Oklahoma and we should be driving conversation (in the Legislature) about what it means to be inclusive.”

City of Tulsa Director of Communications Michelle Brooks told The Frontier on Tuesday that the “City did not have a contract with the campaign and will not bill the campaign.”

Emails from cities across Oklahoma show fear, confusion, and some defiance and dismissiveness early on as the coronavirus began to take hold in the state.

Though Monday’s vote means that the contract to hold immigration detainees for ICE at the jail will end in 90 days, it does not end the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office’s contract with the federal agency to hold and turn over to ICE people with suspected immigration violations who are initially booked in to the jail on other complaints, known as the 287(g) program.