President Donald Trump announced that Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House's coronavirus task force, will visit Oklahoma next week on a tour of states "to deliver aggressive, tailored and targeted guidance."
The visit comes as Okla. Gov. Kevin Stitt is under scrutiny for declining to implement the task force's recommendations to combat the coronavirus.
The White House considers Oklahoma to be a "red zone" state, the worst classification on their chart, and says the state should take much stronger measures to combat the virus outbreak, including closing all bars.
In a statement about the White House recommendations, and in response to remarks by Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum that he was "concerned" the governor had not shared the White House report with local officials, Baylee Lakey, the governor's communications director, told Public Radio Tulsa that "the White House confirmed that these are not mandates and that the State is not out of compliance with any federal orders."
Details about Birx's visit have not yet been released.