Federal Emergency Declaration Allowing State Hospitals To Expand For COVID-19 Patients Hospital's hands were tied in making room for more patients for a while after Gov. Kevin Stitt ended the state's emergency declaration. That has now changed. After a meeting on Monday with hospitals, they now have more freedom. "The hospitalizations you see in the data that comes from the health department means that someone who is hospitalized is placed in a bed, in a room and is staying for more than 24 hours," Lawanna Halstead, R.N., and Vice President of Quality and Clinical Initiatives for the Oklahoma Hospital Association said.