Catherine Sweeney grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and attended Oklahoma State University. She has covered local, state and federal government for outlets in Oklahoma, Colorado and Washington, D.C.
Over the past six months, we’ve gotten pretty familiar with terms we hadn’t heard regularly before, like contact tracers and infectious disease intervention specialists. But they’re not new. Before the coronavirus, many of Oklahoma’s workers in that sector had their eye on another disease: syphilis.
If you’re following the Oklahoma State Department of Health’s coronavirus reports, you’ve probably seen the daily death figures. They detail where the victims lived and their age range.
Oklahoma has seen its second case of rabies in a bat in the past six weeks and health officials say it’s a good reminder to take precautions against the disease.
Oklahoma is nearing one thousand deaths from COVID-19 complications. Like everywhere else, the people dying here have a high rate of what are called comorbidities, or underlying health conditions. They make it harder for the body to fight the virus, and they make death from it more likely.
Oklahoma’s coronavirus trends continue to climb in the national rankings. StateImpact’s Catherine Sweeney reports what this week’s White House Coronavirus Task Force document has to say about the state.
State officials announced several changes to Oklahoma’s coronavirus data policies on Friday morning. The state is updating which data it will report, how it will collect that data, and how it will be displayed.
The White House Coronavirus Task Force released its most recent report on Oklahoma this week. StateImpact’s Catherine Sweeney reports that the document offers new advice to officials in university towns.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s administration has taken a step forward with COVID-19 transparency, but as StateImpact’s Catherine Sweeney reports, other officials continue to raise concerns.
Oklahoma has been in a nursing shortage for decades, and the pandemic has only exacerbated the problem. StateImpact’s Catherine Sweeney reports on the unique strain COVID-19 has placed on hospital nursing teams.
As Congress and the White House quarrel over how to tackle a new stimulus package, Gov. Kevin Stitt said on Thursday he believes Oklahoma doesn’t need one.
People who think they have recovered from COVID-19 have seen positive test results and worried that they’re infected a second time. But local medical researchers say that's unlikely, at least in the short term.
As Oklahoma’s coronavirus case counts continue to break records, some of the state’s top medical experts are ringing alarm bells about hospital capacity.
