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Oklahoma’s Legislature on Monday nearly unanimously approved giving Gov. Kevin Stitt sweeping powers to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many legislators returned to the state Capitol for the special session wearing gloves and colorful face masks to ward off the virus that had infected several of their colleagues.

Legislators' usual lively chitchat in the House and Senate chambers was replaced with nearly empty rooms in which people went out of their way to keep their distance.

The Legislature approved Stitt’s declaration of a health emergency in Oklahoma, which grants the governor additional powers under the Catastrophic Health Emergency Powers Act. This is the first time an Oklahoma governor has invoked the act passed in 2003.