In a report from a COVID mitigation working group, as of Friday, the Tulsa Health Department is not recommending any additional steps from the City of Tulsa right now.
"They feel that we’ve taken the most action of any municipality, quite frankly, in the state, and we’re hoping to see more participation from our nearby partners," City Councilor Lori Decter Wright, a member of the working group, told fellow councilors during a Wednesday committee meeting.
Tulsa requires masks for people 10 and up and recently implemented measures to better enforce that requirement. Some neighboring communities, including Sand Springs, Jenks and Claremore have adopted their own mask requirements, but Owasso simply encourages them and some communities have taken no action on masks — notably Broken Arrow, which has some of the county’s highest infection rates.
Decter Wright said THD also estimated how many area residents will need to be vaccinated.
"The health department explained that to achieve herd immunity, approximately 75% of our population will need to receive the vaccine. Because COVID-19 is so contagious, more preferably, vaccination goals would be in the 80% to 85% range," Decter Wright said.
COVID vaccines are not expected to be widely available until at least mid-2021.
