STILLWATER, Okla. — As Stillwater remains under a state of emergency due to COVID-19, Oklahoma State University is kicking off it's first football game of the season.
Many Pokes fans gathered outside Boone Pikens Stadium to tailgate. They also had an opportunity to help fight the battle with COVID.
Campus staff wanted to make sure that as fans gathered, they did it with health and safety in mind.
Today and every home game for the season, they will host vaccine clinics outside the stadium encouraging fans to get vaccinated.
Fans and students are offered the Johnson and Johnson or the Moderna vaccines.
“I’m a huge believer that it’s a personal choice, but it’s also very nice that the university is offering the opportunity for people who may want to get the vaccination to get it,” Lindsay Reina, a Pokes fan said.
They are even holding a vaccine incentive program called Poke-athon, which enters students into a raffle to win prizes.
“Everyone is glad to be back in college football mode and we’re trying to add to that by you know, with what’s going on with public health and the state right now, we’re trying to provide an outlet for people to, um while they’re tailgating come here and get vaccinated to protect their community,” Barrett Hunter, Director of Compliance and Risk Management for OSU Medicine said.
On September 3rd, the Oklahoma State Health Department helped set up tents outside the hospital in Stillwater.
The reason for the tents is they don’t have enough beds and were concerned about 40-thousand people coming into the city for the game and other holiday weekend events.
The tents will be used to help treat those coming in with health needs other than COVID-19.
The state also activated the medical reserve corp and put a call out for help from statewide healthcare volunteers.
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