The Oklahoma Department of Health says a surge in COVID cases across the state is due to the Delta variant of the coronavirus. The American Academy of Pediatrics has recently reported a significant increase in COVID-19 cases amongst people under 18 years of age. Vaccinations have not been approved for children under 12 years of age. Senate Bill 658 took effect on July 1, banning mask mandates from being put in place in Oklahoma schools unless the governor declares a state of emergency.

The surge has resulted in some pushback against Governor Kevin Stitt’s ban on school mask mandates as students begin returning to the classroom. The Oklahoma City School District has issued a mask mandate and Tulsa Public School Board voted to allow lawyers to take legal action against Bill 658.

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona sent a letter to Gov. Stitt and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister on Wednesday criticizing the state’s law on masks. The letters claims that actions to block school districts from voluntarily adopting science-based strategies for preventing the spread of COVID-19 that are aligned with the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may infringe upon a school district’s authority to adopt policies to protect students and educators as they develop their safe return to in-person instruction plans required by Federal law. The letter also notes that several local education agencies (LEA) have “already moved to adopt such policies in line with guidance from the CDC for the reopening and operation of school facilities despite the State-level prohibitions. The Department stands with these dedicated educators who are working to safely reopen schools and maintain safe in-person instruction.”

“Oklahomans overwhelmingly believe parents should make decisions about their kids, not the government,” Stitt replied.

State School Superintendent Joy Hofmeister responded Wednesday, stating. ““I think Ronald Reagan was right when he said those closest to the problem are the ones best suited to address it. School districts deserve the autonomy to enact policies that protect our schoolchildren and staff from COVID exposure and infection,” Hoffmeister had recommended a statewide mask mandate in schools in July 2020, but it was rejected 4-3 by the State School Board.

Stitt hadn’t spoken against any announced mandates until Cherokee County district Hulbert Public Schools announced a mask requirement on Thursday. He responded with this statement:

“It is disappointing that one school district has chosen to openly violate a state law that was supported by 80 percent of the Legislature. The goal of SB658 was to ensure every student in Oklahoma could go to school in person and parents retained the fundamental right to make health care decisions for their children. To be clear, no parent is banned from sending their child to school with a mask and no school may mandate masks or vaccines. I will always stand up for parents’ right to decide what is best for their child.”

Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor released this statement: “We are vigorously defending SB 658 in court because it is plainly constitutional and helps protect the choices of students and parents. Under the new law, public school boards cannot implement a mask man date, unless certain conditions are met, including that the school district be in an area under a current state of emergency declared by the Governor. Under our constitution, the Legislature gets to set the policy of the state—especially on controversial issues like this— and schools should not be actively trying to undermine our constitutional structure of government by violating duly-enacted state law.”

The daily COVID update from the Oklahoma State Department of Health released Friday, August 20 states the total number of COVID cases in the state was 524,376. There were 2,851 new cases, with the 7-day average rising to 2,220. The were 20,483 active cases, and the total number of reported COVID deaths in the state was 8,957. The most recent three-day average of hospitalized COVID cases totaled 1,380, with 368 patients in Intensive Care Units.

The most recent weekly COVID report from the Oklahoma State Department of Health, released Wednesday, includes information from the week of August 8 through August 14. It shows Oklahoma currently ranks 25th in the number of total COIVID cases reported. There were 15,490 new cases reported for the week, which is an increase of 10.0 percent from the week before and brings the total number of cases since the pandemic began up to 515,801. There were 30,111 cases have been hospitalized. There was a total of 12,490 recovered cases, which is a 40.8 percent increase, bringing the total number up 484,745. Unfortunately, there were 82 COVID related deaths during the week, bringing the total to 7,676.

According to the OSDH report, 33 percent of the cases were persons aged 50 and over, with 53 percent of those cases being female. 95 percent of COVID deaths have been persons aged 50 or over, and 56 percent of these victims were males. The average age of COVID cases was 40 years old, and the average age of individuals who died was 74. Years. The youngest COVID case was less than a year old and the youngest case to die was less than 15 years old. The oldest individual to die was over 100 years old. In total 2,996.794 vaccine doses have been administered.