Oklahoma has been safely reopening from coronavirus closures and is excited about President Donald Trump resuming his MAGA rallies in Tulsa Saturday, Gov. Kevin Stitt said Friday while warnings continue from key health experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, that attending the rally could be dangerous to attendees' health.
"What we can tell you is I made 25 different executive orders over the last few days, and we peaked in hospitalizations at 560 back in March. Today, we have 211," Stitt said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "(We were) one of the first states to start reopening and are 57 days into our reopening campaign, and we feel like it is the right time to start reopening, so we are excited about the president coming."
However, there have been some concerns about recent spikes in coronavirus numbers, and some have called for the rally to be postponed, but Stitt said he wonders when that right time would come.
"The coronavirus is in the United States, it is in Oklahoma," he said. "We have to take precautions, but we have the freedom to stay at home, you have the freedom to come to this rally."
When asked about mandatory masks, Stitt said state officials are following the lead of the president and vice president, and added he's hesitant about mandatory mask rules.
"If you want to wear a mask we want you to do it, if you feel safer at home, we don't want you to come to that rally," said Stitt. "If you do feel okay, we want you to come to the rally and have a good time. We are going to be very safe . . . do we really think that in July or August or November, coronavirus is not going to be here? We've got to learn to deal with this. We've got to learn to be safe, take precautions, but we've got to learn to also live our lives."