OK waives school-related quarantines
Going forward, schools with a mask requirement and COVID- 19 safety protocols will not have to quarantine students and teachers exposed to the virus.
The Oklahoma State Department of Health and Gov. Kevin Stitt announced the new guidelines in a news conference Tuesday.
Students and staff wouldn't have to quarantine for two weeks unless they show symptoms of illness, as long as their exposure to the virus was in a classroom environment where everyone was wearing a mask and distancing. The policy does not apply if the exposure occurred during an afterschool activity, such as sports.
Stitt said missing school would do greater harm to students academically and mentally.
State schools Superintendent Joy H of meister, Oklahoma's top education official, condemned the new policy f or contradicting guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC recommends a quarantine period of at least 10 days for anyone exposed to COVID-19.
Officials with the Oklahoma
State Department of Education said they were not consulted about the new policy before the governor and health officials announced it. Hofmeister was not invited to speak at the news conference Tuesday, an agency spokesperson said.
“While this option underscores the need form ask requirements in school, I cannot in good conscience support ignoring quarantine guidelines from the CDC and other infectious disease experts,” Hofmeister said in a statement Tuesday. “There is no doubt we all want our students and teachers to be
Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler praised the Tulsa Police Department for the hard work on the case.
"Cold case homicides are very difficult cases to solve," the DA said. "Occasionally information or witnesses
come forward which provides the necessary link for filing of charges, which is how this case was able to be advanced.”
Baltes was killed after going to the motel from a club across the street. When questioned in Wyoming about the death, Moore denied ever being in Tulsa. However, Lee testified at his preliminary hearing that they had come to Tulsa one time to visit her mother.
She also said Moore and another man came back to
her mother's residence and said they needed to leave. She testified Moore had blood on his clothing that night when he got in the car.
The room at the Sandman Motel had been rented under the name, "Mack Robinson." After Moore was identified as a suspect, a police detective found he had used that name as an alias in the past.
The investigation is continuing to try to identify a second man in the motel room.