COVID-19

Testing, masking, and quarantine standards are a few of the concerns Jan Cervenka has with the COVID-19 response at Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton.

As recently as Wednesday, Oklahoma health officials were hopeful that the state’s weekly vaccine supply would double. But that hope disappeared Friday, when news broke that the federal stockpile fueling that supply surge is gone.

In normal circumstances, foreign language immersion instruction requires some classroom creativity to make it work.

Quarantining after a COVID-19 exposure will now be optional in Oklahoma classrooms if students and teachers are wearing a mask.

Oklahoma’s State Board of Education is asking for a funding increase for the state's schools in this year’s legislative session.

As the fall 2020 semester ends, Oklahoma teachers are burnt out and discouraged by a semester disrupted by COVID-19. That's according to results of an Oklahoma Education Association survey that measured teacher morale during the pandemic.

For months, infectious disease experts have warned of a big surge in COVID-19 cases in the fall and winter. Cases and deaths have gone up dramatically across the nation and Oklahoma has seen its numbers rise, as well. With the holidays upon us, and vaccines just now reaching high-risk groups, KGOU's Dick Pryor and eCapitol's Shawn Ashley asked Oklahoma's interim commissioner of health, Dr. Lance Frye, about the state's response and plan for the new year. 

Early Monday morning, over 30,000 doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine arrived in Oklahoma City. Getting it from there into the arms of front-line hospital workers in every corner of the state will be a massive undertaking, complicated by the Pfizer vaccine’s storage requirements.

Oklahoma administered its first coronavirus vaccine Monday, marking a major milestone in the pandemic: what officials called the beginning of the end.

As Oklahoma's coronavirus death toll passed 2,000, the Oklahoma State Department of Health reported a stunning 3,900 new positive COVID-19 cases on Friday (Dec. 11, 2020). The additional cases push the state's cumulative case total to 229,353 and bring the rolling seven-day average up to 2,925. With cases surging, state officials are taking new steps to reduce the spread. KGOU's Dick Pryor and eCapitol's Shawn Ashley discuss in Capitol Insider.

In an unprecedented year for health care around the world, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority has had to adjust to serve Oklahoma's significant uninsured population. Adding to that challenge was Oklahoma voters' decision in June, through Constitutional Amendment, to require the state to expand Medicaid next year. In this week's Capitol Insider, Kevin Corbett, the chief executive officer of Oklahoma's Medicaid agency, tells KGOU's Dick Pryor and eCapitol's Shawn Ashley how the Oklahoma Health Care Authority is handling 2020 with an eye toward 2021.

New restrictions went into effect in Norman on Monday in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Now that they have been sworn into office, the members of Oklahoma's next legislature are focusing on getting ready for the session that begins in February. In this week's Capitol Insider, KGOU's Dick Pryor and eCapitol's Shawn Ashley talk about the work that lies ahead.

Oklahoma state schools’ superintendent Joy Hofmeister believes mandating masks in classrooms is key to slowing COVID-19’s spread.