To: Pastors and Congregations of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference
From: Bishop Jimmy Nunn, Rev. David Wilson, Conference Superintendent
Date: April 8, 2020 Re:
Update on Covid-19 Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
We want to say thank you to our OIMC churches for your creativity with online worship and for caring for your parishioners in such a time as this. It has been great to see so many churches do live feeds on Facebook, pre-recorded services and more.
I am certain that most have seen or heard the latest proclamation by Governor Stitt that was made last week, but I want to share it again. Thank you for abiding by these guidelines and for not putting people at risk by meeting in person.
We know that many are disappointed because our Holy day of Easter is this Sunday and because of the virus, we are asked not to meet by the Governor and the Center for Disease Control in order to not only protect ourselves, but our loved ones. Easter always brings large crowds to our churches for service, meals and egg hunts.
Health disparities in Indian Country make all of us more susceptible to the COVID-19 virus. Our high rates of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and asthma are just a few of the disparities. Our intergenerational homes sometimes include many people and anyone could be exposed or carriers without knowing, thereby affecting others in our homes
As we write this memo, there have been 79 deaths in the state of Oklahoma due to the COVID-19 virus. The number of COVID-19 cases are doubling about every six day. The peak of this virus to hit Oklahoma is April 23rd. sixty of seventy-seven counties have COVID-19 cases.
Oklahoma has seen a big spike in coronavirus cases in the past week, prompting Gov. Kevin Stitt Monday to issue an executive order advising Oklahomans to stay home and avoid groups of 10 or more people,
Stitt’s executive order advises Oklahomans to abide by the following:
Stay home and avoid groups of 10 or more people;
Avoid eating or drinking at bars, restaurants, and food courts. Instead use drive-thru, pickup, or delivery options;
Avoid discretionary travel, gyms, social visits, and shopping trips; and
Do not visit nursing homes, retirement or long-term care facilities.
Stitt also activated the Oklahoma National Guard Regional Training Institute to observe COVID-19 developments and be ready to take actions requested by the governor to help communities and hospitals and formed the Governor’s Solution Task Force to provide comprehensive solutions for the pandemic.
He also filed an executive order Sunday to allow Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma to perform COVID-19 testing, which will increase the state’s testing capacity 10 times once the labs are fully online.
Stitt also directed the OSDH to open four satellite locations in Oklahoma – Tulsa, Kay, Carter and Pittsburg Counties – to conduct testing of Oklahomans with COVID-19 symptoms; entered into a public-private partnership with Diagnostic Laboratories of Oklahoma (DLO) to expand the state’s capacity to deliver COVID-19 testing results; and implemented statewide reporting requirements to collect and create transparent data of hospitals’ bed capacity, equipment supplies, and COVID-19 testing capacity. Those locations are not yet open.
Additionally, Stitt has put into place the following:
Transformed the state’s 2-1-1 hotline into a tool for Oklahomans to call and receive screening public health support for COVID-19.
Suspended several regulations on telemedicine to ease capabilities for Oklahomans to receive medical support from a doctor without leaving home.
Established expedited process for nurses with inactive licenses to get recertified.
Suspended various regulations on truck drivers and commercial vehicles for transporting medical supplies and other critical items across state lines.
Temporarily extending licensing reciprocity for health care professionals, like doctors and nurses, who hold licenses to practice in other states.
He also implemented a ban of out-of-state business travel for state employees.
On the education front, Stitt implemented the following:
Closed all accredited PreK-12thgrade public schools for students and educators until April 6, as directed by the State Superintendent and SDE Board.
Suspended academic assessments for grades 3-8 or to high school juniors and suspended the Oklahoma School Report Cards for the 2019-2020 school year, as requested by the Oklahoma State Department of Education and approved by the U.S. Department of Education on March 20.
For more on Stitt’s executive orders and other COVID-19 developments and information, visit https://coronavirus.health.ok.gov/.
Again, In light of this latest information, we strongly recommend and expect that all United Methodist Churches close and that staff work from home as much as possible. We do not recommend that any in-person gatherings take place for any reason though we do understand that some may choose to follow CDC safe distancing and under 10 people requirements in order to record worship services and messages of devotion and encouragement.
This is permissible under the CDC guidelines as well as in keeping with Governor Stitt’s exemptions and his “Safer at Home” order. If you are gathering to record or host live worship on Sunday morning, please make sure you have under 10 people in your gathering and that they are practicing the 6’ safe distancing guidelines. This will help us flatten the curve.
Once again, follow CDC guidelines. Be creative and safe. Share ideas and resources. Be concerned about people – not statistics and learn from this emergency. Most especially, love and care for one another as our Lord has told us to do.
