OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma State Board of Education voted Wednesday to close public schools statewide for the remainder of the school year and to turn to distance learning in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus, which has now infected 164 Oklahomans.

The vote came as the state Department of Health reported an increase in the number of cases from 106 on Tuesday and the number of deaths from three to five.

Closing schools and implementing distance learning, which had been prohibited in the state, are “drastic steps” but are necessary to slow the spread of the virus, state sch...