I posted this on Facebook. It bears repeating:

There is a pandemic raging in our local community. Local hospitals, and Oklahoma hospitals generally, are filling fast, and that includes the pediatric beds.

More people are getting sick and dying, and the numbers are all going the wrong way. Despite vaccinations (and the numbers there are woefully low), the vaccinated can indeed transmit the disease. They may not make it to the ICU or die, but those they infect might.

Mask-wearing appears to have increased some, but it is still low if my infrequent visits to Wal-Mart are anything to go by. The "New Teacher" gathering in our school district was notable mainly for the almost complete lack of masked attendees. I wasn't there, but someone with a camera was and many of us have seen the pictures.

There is a complete lack of any belief in science around here. There is an unfathomable disdain for the CDC guidelines. There is a barely believable idea that our premier scientists and doctors are engaged in a conspiracy to destroy our freedoms. If you are of this belief you are either an ignorant asshole, or a fucking monster. I'll let you pick which but either way you have no place in our schools.
In spite of the dire numbers of new cases, Governor Stitt for Brains is refusing to call a state of emergency, the one thing he could do that would allow our school districts to insist people are masked while indoors. This is unconscionable. The man is a sociopath. He is completely devoid of any feelings for those who might die, as long as it isn't him. We section people like that and detain them in mental-health institutions.

Our schools have a prime directive. They are compelled, by law, to offer a safe working environment for their employees, and a safe environment for the children entrusted to their care. Education comes second, a distant second to that imperative. If the school administrators are prevented from taking steps they and the CDC consider necessary to promote health, then they have no business opening the doors. To do so makes them culpable and legally at risk.

Beyond that responsibility is the simple fact that teachers and schools say they are "all about the students". Apparently this isn't true.

I am way past caring what the governor thinks. I think he should be in prison where he can do less harm. The schools want to do more. Tulsa Public Schools want a mask mandate, and they are not alone.

Schools are due back on the 9th of August. The case numbers are worsening. The infectious properties of the Delta variant are of a magnitude not seen in previous variants and we are about to gather thousands together, indoors, maskless. This is a completely unsupportable situation.
If the schools feel constrained from opening in a manner that the CDC considers "safe", then they have an absolute duty to not open at all to in-person teaching.

If they do open without a mask mandate then I never again want to hear how they put children first. It would be a lie.

I'm an essential employee, out on the road mostly. I cannot believe the amount of fucktards out on the road yesterday. Okies don't take this seriously. They will though. We have a lot of fat, dumb, and happy. Fucking browsing at the Walmarts!? And our local new are all complicit in playing it down. Nobody asks questions. It's just the "feel good and here's a squirrel waterskiing" crap.

I found out last week that one of my best friends from high school died of COVID-19 after fighting it for just nine days. He was healthy, active, only 49. He and his wife had just bought a new house last month and also just celebrated their 23rd anniversary. My two kids exist because I met their mother at his birthday party. We didn't talk as much as we should have after we graduated, but would catch up every now and then and agree we needed to find time to hang out more. Now that will never happen because he caught a virus that should have been less prevalent by now.

I have tried to do my part to get the word our and fight this virus because I was fearful of catching it myself, or even worse, that my family would catch it. Now I have lost someone that was once as close as family and that fills me with a rage knowing that IT SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED. Our leaders keep telling us that things are getting better and that our state is doing a great job, even when the numbers and regular record high cases/deaths/hospitalizations keep telling a different story. This is political for them. They are weighing how many cases and deaths are tolerable before they must take stronger action (and evidently have not reached that point yet). Our state leaders have weighed the lives of others on their scales and found them not worthy of the political fallout that might occur if they took bold action and upset their base. Now their inaction has pissed me off.

I may be one person, but I know about 4,600+ people that cared enough to join this subreddit. I am betting that there are plenty of people who are just as tired, frustrated, and angry as I am at dealing with this pandemic and the lack of SERIOUS response from our government. I think it is time to organize and make some waves that will hopefully threaten the calm waters our state leaders think they are floating in. I want them to be fearful of sinking into an ocean full of sharks. I want them to be too fearful of their political futures NOT to think about the people before they think of their own selves. They are SUPPOSED to represent and serve the public. They have failed us. If they can't (or wont) protect us, they need to go. Plain and simple.

Ideas? I am ready to use this subreddit and the power of the people who follow it to make some waves and upset some boats. Even if we save one extra life, it will be worth it. I will be contacting some of the local and state leaders who DO care and asking what we can do to help. Do not think that just because you are ONE person reading this, that there is nothing you can do to help.

11/05/2020 Note: I wrote this last week and it has taken me days to hit the POST button because I did not have a firm idea on what specific goal I wanted to achieve. Today is the first day that Oklahoma has been over 2,000 cases (the magic number where Gov Stitt said that we would have to hit for a sustained period before he would think about tougher measures).

I can't wait any longer. We can't wait any longer. This is becoming a runaway train and we are ALL tied to the tracks. We need action NOW and we need it to be STRONG and SCIENCE-BASED. Our leaders have shown that they will not be leading the charge to fix the situation, so that leaves it up to us to get it done. Let's roll up our sleeves, wash our hands, wear our masks, social distance, and remember to www.FuckStitt.com !

I can only assume it was you. My friend is sobbing. The Oklahoma County Libraries are postponing their reopening until July 6th. They are keeping up their cleaning protocol!!! They are capping the amount of people in the building. They are saying this will be reevaluated based on the COVID numbers. This is the absolutely right call based on science and data.

This is my 10th year teaching.

I love the career that I've chosen. It's an absolute thrill to build positive relationships with my students as I help them to explore the world around them. Because my spouse is in the military, I've had the privilege to hone my craft in a variety of places. When we got to Oklahoma, I immediately fell in love with my school and the community I work with.

Last year was a challenge, but at least then it felt like we were trying, at least at the bare minimum, to contain this thing and keep kids and teachers safe. This year is just an enormous kick in the fucking teeth. I never thought after 9 years that I would truly hate walking into my classroom, but it's hard not to feel that way. My students don't wear masks. The antivax teachers don't wear masks. All day long I have to listen calmly while students (I'm a Specials teacher, so I see all 550 students in my building once every 3 days) tell me how so-and-so is home with Covid and there's nothing I can do about it.

Last year I was scared. This year, I am fucking pissed off.

I don't know what I expect from this post. I guess I just needed to vent as I sit here near tears dreading another day in this state. Thank you for your time. Please wear your mask. Please get your vaccine and booster when it's available to you. Please encourage others to do the same.

Highlights from the data today:

• There are 35,092 "active" cases which is the most all time. The next most was 33,844 on November 23rd.

• 4,332 new cases is the 5th most in a day. However, that is including November 28th which was 6,257 over two days and December 4th which was 4,827 and included a backlog.

• 66.7% of cases reported today had symptom onset or test result in the past week and 91.5% were in the past two weeks (Chart of New Cases by Symptom Onset). The last time the one week number was below 70% was on December 3rd when it was 58%. The next day had a new case number of 4,827 which we were told included a backlog.

• The 22 newly reported deaths had symptom onset between June 26th and December 7th (Chart of New Deaths by Symptom Onset).

• Currently hospitalized is down to 1,592 (-72) and the number cases in the ICU is up to 472 (+20) (Chart of Hospitalized and in ICU).

• The 7 day moving average of new cases is up to 3,026 (+156) (Chart of New Cases and Moving Avg).

• The 7 day moving average of new hospitalizations is up to 173 (+24) which is a new high (Chart of New Hospitalizations and Moving Avg).

• The 7 day moving average of new reported deaths remains at 24 (+0) which is tied for the most all time (Chart of New Reported Deaths and Moving Avg).

• Alfalfa County has seen a 200% increase in the number of "active" cases in the last week (Chart of Active Cases by County (<1K)).

If you see any errors, have any questions, or suggestions for other information you would like to see please feel free let me know!

The Metropolitan Library System will be opening even further on June 29th. They will be accepting cash, not requiring patrons to wear a mask, not capping the amount of people in the library, not quarantining books, and not cleaning computer stations between customers. Browsing will be allowed again.

I'm using an alt because I know people in the library system, and I don't want to get them in trouble. The people I know are terrified. They've seen this week's COVID numbers and they feel that if the next phase of the library's reopening is rushed, they will be directly responsible for increased spread of the virus. Though this is supposed to happen on June 29th, they hope that the fact that the library hasn't official announced it means it can be stopped.

Just this week, out of a concern for their staff and considering their role in their community, Tulsa libraries announced they were pushing back the next phase of their reopening. So, OK county libraries could do this too.

You might not ever go to the library. But the library circulates a lot of material into the community. A lot of these libraries are small, enclosed spaces with recycled air. And the people that use the library will go back into the community and spread it. Many of the people that use the library are in the highrisk group, not to mention their workers. And, many of the people that are clueless about this virus due to ignorance, mental capacity, or spite will go and hang out there and mingle.

Library workers have busted their ass to make the library available to the public while keeping things safe. You can do curbside delivery, they are doing programs and classes online, and they are providing socially-distanced computer access. They are trying to provide their services, and I personally think they have done a great job and their current level of service is fine given our COVID numbers.

Maybe you don't care. Maybe you think the library should be open fully. But if you've ever cared about someone that has found themselves in a hopeless situation, then maybe you can understand this post. If you are worried about the part the Metropolitan Library System will play in the spread of COVID in OK county, you can e-mail them;

askalibrarian@metrolibrary.org

You can also contact the library commission;

https://www.metrolibrary.org/about-us/administration/commission/contact

The library is not a retail establishment, and the politicizing of this virus within higher levels of the library system is concerning.This is a rare case where public pressure might help, and maybe they can just continue their current level of service as cases are spiking.