New Initiative Aims to Assess Oklahoma’s Readiness for Future Pandemics

Local health leaders said when it comes to another pandemic in the future it’s not a matter of if, but when.

Gary Cox, an OU associate dean and director of the Center for Public Health Practice, is calling it a statewide conversation. Cox is the former interim state health commissioner. He's part of the group discussing the COVID-19 response and what can be done better the next time.

“No one has really taken a deep breath and said, ‘how do we better prepare for the future?'” said Cox.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the University of Oklahoma is looking towards the future with their new public health initiative.

“This pandemic had a tremendous impact on our state. We had over 11,000 people died, over 600,000 were infected. We had an estimated $18-billion reduction in our gross national product. So how do we rebuild?” he said.

The goal of 'Achieving a Healthy Oklahoma Initiative’ is to assess the state’s COVID-19 response and what can be done better next time.

“Oklahomans are resilient, and Oklahomans really want to do well,” Cox said.

Health leaders will discuss four main topics: health care and public health, education, business, and community-based organizations.

“We’ve got 11 listening sessions across cities across Oklahoma and three tribal listening sessions as well. We want to hear what people in Oklahoma have to say. What are the challenges that they have dealt with?” he said.

Although the initiative is still in its early stages, he said he already sees one major issue that needs to be addressed.

“How do we really open the pipeline to get new folks in? New nurses, new public health workers, new educators in to rebuild the system,” said Cox.

They expect to have the full report completed by next year. It'll be presented to political leaders.