Mayor G.T. Bynum announced on Friday that, on the advice of Dr. Bruce Dart, director of the Tulsa Health Department, an ordinance will be introduced requiring face coverings in the city of Tulsa.
"This is necessary to slow the current rate of viral spread that will endanger our health care system’s ability to treat those in need if it is not addressed," Bynum said in the statement.
At a Wednesday press conference, Bynum said he would only recommend the implementation of such a mandate if Dart advised him that there were no other option. Dart on Wednesday said it was possible he would do so, but that he would make a decision in "a few more days."
"Today he made that recommendation and today I have directed the City Legal Department to draft an ordinance for consideration by the Tulsa City Council at their meeting next Wednesday," Bynum's statement reads. "The legal teams at both the City of Tulsa and the Tulsa Health Department believe an order of this nature should be made via ordinance, so that is the way we will proceed."
The statement concludes: "Attorneys will have that draft ordinance completed by Monday, and Dr. Dart plans to meet with city councilors early next week in advance of their meeting on Wednesday. I will share that draft ordinance as soon as it is available."
Dart said on Wednesday that Tulsa County currently has the worst COVID-19 outbreak in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma State Department of Health reported three more deaths in Tulsa County on Friday, bringing the total number of known, confirmed fatalities in the county to 75.
The city councils of Norman and Stillwater voted to implement mask requirements early this week. Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes for Health has strongly urged local governments to put such measures in place. Gov. Kevin Stitt has repeatedly vowed that he will never institute a mask mandate in Oklahoma.
