YOUR BUSINESS IS OUR BUSINESS

VOL. 125 NO. 129 ■ JOURNALRECORD.COM Part of the network 2 SECTIONS ■ WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2020 ■ $1.00

Masks become a business

hot potato in Oklahoma
Gov. Kevin Stitt at a Capitol press conference Tuesday.
PHOTO BY JANICE FRANCIS-SMITH

Stitt: Spike in
cases requires
new tactics
BY JANICE FRANCIS-SMITH
The Journal Record

OKLAHOMA CITY – Gov. Kevin Stitt would like

Melissa McLeroy, facility operation supervisor, cleans equipment at Life Time Athletic in Oklahoma City as the facility
reopens to the public. AP FILE PHOTO/SUE OGROCKI
BY JANICE FRANCIS-SMITH
The Journal Record
OKLAHOMA CITY – With state leaders unwill-
ing to mandate that masks be worn in crowded
public spaces, Oklahoma businesses are left to
enact their own policies for confronting the glob-
al pandemic while trying to keep their employees
safe.
“It’s a fine balance between protecting your
workers and maybe alienating yourself from your
customers,” said Allen Hutson, a director with
the Oklahoma City-based Crowe & Dunlevy law
firm. “The customer issue is really a difficult one
for employers because they’ve got businesses to
run and this is a very divisive topic. You’ve got
folks on both ends of the spectrum: They either
think that cloth face coverings are great and ev-
erybody should be doing it or they think it’s just
INSIDE
a bunch of hooey and nobody should be doing it.
So it’s just a tough situation.”
The Occupational Safety and Health Admin-
istration has continued to update its guidance
regarding what is expected of employers to
protect their employees during the COVID-19
pandemic. OSHA is not requiring employers to
mandate facial coverings, but employers are al-
lowed to make the decision to require workers to
wear facial coverings, particularly to address the
risk of spreading COVID-19 among co-workers.
To protect employees and customers from mem-
bers of the public who might carry the disease,
employers may put in place plastic barriers and
encourage proper social distancing with signage
and floor markers to mark where customers may
stand while in line to maintain a distance of 6 feet.
Turn to MASKS » p12
«2»
Oklahomans to wear masks when social distanc-
ing is not feasible, but he’s never going to mandate
that masks be worn, the governor said while don-
ning one at a press conference Tuesday.
The recent spike in COVID-19 cases seen in
Oklahoma does not warrant a return to the restric-
tions of earlier phases in the state’s reopening plan,
said Stitt, but signals that new tactics are needed
going forward.
“No, I will not reconsider mandates, we believe
in freedoms,” said Stitt when asked if his stance on
mask mandates could change if COVID-19 cases
continue to rise. “I will not mandate masks in the
state of Oklahoma.”
Stitt held a press conference at the state Capitol
to address reports of record-breaking levels of in-
fections in recent days and weeks. On Tuesday, an-
other 585 new cases of COVID-19 were reported
in the state, a new high for single-day infections
and a 4.5% increase in total reported cases. So far,
13,757 Oklahomans have tested positive for the
coronavirus and 387 have died from COVID-19.
Currently there are 3,285 active cases in the state.
But Oklahomans need not be alarmed, said
Stitt. The vast majority of new cases, 71%, are in
people under the age a 50 – a population with a
0.8% death rate from the virus. On April 24, 306
Oklahomans were hospitalized due to COVID-19;
Skydweller Aero picks

today, there are 315 people hospitalized due to the

OKC, Ardmore for HQ, virus, Stitt said.
Bankruptcy court approves Chesapeake motions The
testing » p3 “The goal was never to have zero cases in the
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas has
approved Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s motions seeking a variety state of Oklahoma,” said Stitt. The goal was to
of relief, including authority to pay owner royalties, employee Venezuela sanctions “flatten the curve,” reducing levels of transmission
wages and benefits, and certain vendors and suppliers in the set off fight for so that the state’s health care system would not be
ordinary course for goods and services provided. ‘plundered’ oil
cargo » p3 Turn to TACTICS » p12

News in Brief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4A CRUDE OIL NATURAL GAS GASOLINE

Around Town. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6A
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12A « July 1, 2020 « THE JOURNAL RECORD « journalrecord.com
MASKS » from p1
“OSHA hasn’t gone so far as to
require even employees to wear cloth
face coverings; they certainly haven’t
opined on what an employer should
do with respect to members of the
public,” said Hutson.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott resisted
calls for a statewide requirement that
people wear masks in public places,
but praised a county judge’s order
putting the responsibility on local
businesses. In an interview with a
local television station, Abbott said
government cannot require indi-
viduals to wear face masks, but local
governments can require stores and
businesses to require them. The may-
ors of several Texas cities where cases
of COVID-19 have spiked in recent
days, including Austin, have since
TACTICS » from p1
overrun with critically ill patients.
That was accomplished and that holds
true today despite the spike in cases,
he said.
Stitt asked younger people to be
careful, as they might show no symp-
toms yet be capable of spreading the
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implemented ordinances requiring
businesses to mandate face coverings
in public places. The ordinances give
local businesses the legal backing to
enforce mask requirements within
their workplaces.
Similar powers are unlikely to be
granted to municipalities in Okla-
homa. Gov. Kevin Stitt has repeatedly
stated that he trusts Oklahomans to
make good decisions and will not is-
sue a mandate for citizens to wear fa-
cial coverings. While criticizing Stitt’s
response to COVID-19 during a press
conference on June 24, Rep. Emily
Virgin, D-Norman, minority leader
in the state House of Representatives,
stopped short of asking the governor
to grant local governments the power
to enact mask mandates.
“We know that mandates aren’t
working very well in many places, and
I don’t think that we’re at that time
disease to their parents, grandparents
and other vulnerable populations.
Stitt modeled wearing a mask at Tues-
day’s press conference, but said he did
not want citizens to shame others who
do not wear a mask, as some might
have valid reasons why they would
not wear a face covering.
Following the lead of the federal
government, the state will be imple-
For ticket and table information go to
http://journalrecord.com/jr-achievers-under-40/
yet,” said Virgin.
Local leaders in Stillwater and
Guthrie reversed course after facing
violent threats from members of the
public due to mask mandates includ-
ed in ordinances passed at the height
of April’s stay-at-home orders.
While the mayors of Oklahoma
City, Tulsa and Norman issued or-
dinances in April and May to either
close or strictly regulate specific
businesses that posed a high risk of
spreading COVID-19, none of those
cities went so far as to mandate that
masks be worn.
“There is no way to enforce that,
and we never had that in any of our
previous phases,” said Oklahoma City
Mayor David Holt at a press confer-
ence held June 23. Though the press
briefing was held by teleconference,
the mayor donned a mask as he
stood near other officials speaking
menting a color-coded risk assess-
ment system to provide relevant
information on a county-by-county
basis, allowing Oklahomans to make
their own decisions regarding how
to keep themselves and their families
safe, said Stitt.
But there’s no going back to earlier
stages of the state’s reopening plan,
as some other states that have seen
at the event. “On the issue of masks,
I’m going to continue to lead by
example.”
Oklahoma State Medical Associa-
tion President George Monks issued
a statement June 25, following the
state’s fourth-highest rise in positive
cases over a 24-hour period, urging
Gov. Stitt and the Oklahoma State
Department of Health to “enhance
their call of robust safety guidelines
for Oklahoma businesses and public
spaces that require employees and
customers to wear masks around
others.”
Monks said early victories in the
battle against COVID-19 are being
“erased by the growing number of
large events coupled with a decreas-
ing number of people who follow
CDC guidelines,” and that too many
people are taking an “it’s not my prob-
lem” approach to the virus.
spikes and resurgences in cases are
doing.
“The question to them is: When
is the right time to reopen your
economy?” said Stitt. “Is it August,
September, October, November? Is
there going to be zero cases in the
state when you do decide to reopen?
This could be our new normal for the
next 24 months.”