Muskogee County Commissioners Declare State Of Emergency

Muskogee County commissioners declare a new state of emergency. They did the same thing last year November and that order expired earlier this year. "The point of the emergency is to draw attention to the fact that our numbers are going back up," said Commissioner Ken Doke.

He said county leaders are worried and the emergency declaration will allow them to set up safety measures much faster.

"We've created an emergency management plan, sort of a hazard plan, that has triggers in it. So, once we have numbers that reach a certain level of those triggers, we can be able to implement safety protocols without having to have meetings," Doke explained.

The county says there has been 290 new cases in the past week. That's an average of 56 cases a day. The county uses this map for reference:

Those numbers put Muskogee on the highest tier for safety protocols. This means county buildings like the courthouse will be closed to most of the public. It also means county employees must wear a mask and are encouraged to work from home and everyone entering a county building, including employees, will be screened.

Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell says the state's goal is to keep the state economy "open."

"We all know how to wear masks and that may be something we need to do again --- because again, priority number one is making sure businesses do not have to close back down. We have to keep businesses open, we have to keep schools open," Pinnell added.

"Our goal is to Prevent the spread without it and infringing on people's personal lives," Doke told News on 6.

Commissioners will review the state of emergency every three weeks to increase, decrease, or maintain restrictions.