See the list of school districts below, including 4 in Saline County, and their infection numbers. Also a list of schools that have implemented a mask requirement. ?
The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) issued a statement Thursday urging mask requirements at schools across the state.
Out of 262 school districts in the state, 182 of them have COVID-19 infection rates of 50+ new known infections per 10,000 district residents, over a 14-day period, according to ACHI. A week earlier, the count was 140 districts in this list. The information is based on Arkansas Department of Health data obtained Monday.
Of those 182 districts, 42 have 14-day COVID-19 infection rates of 100 or more new known infections per 10,000 district residents, or more than 1% of residents, up from 16 a week earlier – and three of those districts are in Saline County.
“Infection rates in Arkansas communities have been increasing each week, and our soaring hospitalization and death counts bear out that we are in the midst of a COVID-19 surge driven by the highly contagious delta variant,” said ACHI President and CEO Dr. Joe Thompson. “This week, only seven school districts in the state have 14-day infections rates of fewer than 30 new known infections per 10,000 district residents. With the start of the school year imminent, it is crucial that school leaders use every tool they have to protect kids: vaccination for those who are eligible, universal indoor mask requirements, social distancing, good hand hygiene, and increased ventilation.”
This week, ACHI’s Health Policy Board urged all K-12 schools, colleges, and universities in the state to begin the school year with indoor mask requirements for students, teachers, and staff members, regardless of vaccination status. The board cited the current surge of infections, driven by the delta variant, in its call to action.
The board also proposed that schools consider requesting waivers from the Arkansas Department of Education to delay the start of the school year, among other recommendations. Dr. Cam Patterson, Chancellor of University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) recommends the same, as he tweeted on August 11th:
“As the parent of school-aged kids in Arkansas, I can attest to how debilitating online learning and the interruption of routine that school shutdowns have been on children in our state. Our kids should be in school.” Dr. Patterson continued in a string of tweets, “…And maximal vaccination of all teachers, staff, and eligible children. Going back to school without these safeguards should not happen right now in Arkansas. If we need to delay school opening to get this in place, let’s do that. Otherwise some kids will die. Many school systems will shut down. Our communities will suffer from an increased spread of the virus. Our healthcare system will rupture in places. It will take so long to recover. Let’s not do it that way. Let’s do it the right way.”
As of Monday, the following 182 school districts had a rate of at least 50 new known infections per 10,000 district residents over the previous 14 days. An asterisk* indicates that a district is new to the list this week. Keep scrolling for link to list of schools with current mask requirements. ?
- Alma*
- Alpena* – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Arkadelphia*
- Atkins – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Augusta*
- Bald Knob*
- Barton-Lexa – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Batesville
- Bauxite – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Bay
- Bearden
- Beebe
- Benton – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Bentonville
- Bergman
- Berryville
- Bismarck*
- Booneville*
- Bradford*
- Brinkley*
- Brookland – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Bryant – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Buffalo Island Central*
- Cabot
- Caddo Hills – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Camden Fairview*
- Carlisle – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Cave City
- Cedar Ridge
- Cedarville
- Centerpoint
- Clarendon*
- Clarksville
- Cleveland County – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Clinton
- Concord – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Conway
- Corning
- Cossatot River*
- Cotter – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Cross County
- Cutter-Morning Star – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Dardanelle*
- Deer-Mt. Judea – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Des Arc
- DeWitt
- Dover*
- Drew Central*
- East End
- Elkins – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Emerson-Taylor-Bradley
- England*
- Farmington – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Fayetteville
- Flippin
- Fordyce
- Forrest City*
- Fort Smith
- Fouke*
- Fountain Lake
- Gentry
- Glen Rose – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Gravette
- Green Forest
- Greenbrier – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Greene County Tech
- Greenland*
- Greenwood
- Gurdon*
- Guy-Perkins
- Hackett*
- Hamburg*
- Hampton*
- Harmony Grove (Saline County)
- Harrisburg
- Harrison
- Hazen
- Heber Springs – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Hector*
- Helena-West Helena
- Highland
- Hillcrest*
- Horatio*
- Hot Springs
- Huntsville
- Izard County Consolidated – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Jackson County*
- Jacksonville
- Jessieville
- Jonesboro
- Kirby*
- Lafayette County*
- Lake Hamilton
- Lakeside
- Lamar – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Lavaca
- Lawrence County*
- Lead Hill
- Lee County*
- Lincoln
- Little Rock
- Lonoke
- Magazine
- Magnet Cove – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Malvern – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Mammoth Spring
- Manila*
- Marion*
- Marked Tree
- Marmaduke
- Marvell – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Mayflower – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- McCrory – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- McGehee*
- Melbourne
- Midland – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Monticello
- Mountain Home – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Mountain Pine – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Mountain View
- Mt. Vernon-Enola
- Nashville*
- Nettleton
- Newport*
- Norfork
- North Little Rock
- Omaha
- Ouachita
- Ozark – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Ozark Mountain
- Palestine-Wheatley*
- Pangburn
- Paragould – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Paris
- Parkers Chapel*
- Pea Ridge
- Perryville
- Pine Bluff
- Pottsville*
- Poyen– rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Prairie Grove – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Pulaski County Special
- Quitman – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Rector*
- Riverview – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Rogers
- Rose Bud – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Russellville*
- Salem
- Searcy
- Searcy County
- Sheridan – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Shirley
- Siloam Springs
- South Conway County
- South Pike County
- South Side
- Southside
- Springdale
- Star City – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Strong-Huttig*
- Stuttgart
- Trumann
- Two Rivers
- Valley Springs
- Valley View – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Van Buren*
- Vilonia
- Viola
- Waldron*
- Watson Chapel*
- West Fork
- West Memphis*
- West Side*
- Westside Consolidated – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- Westside*
- White County Central – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
- White Hall
- Wonderview
- Woodlawn
- Wynne
- Yellville-Summit – rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
The local-level COVID-19 data can be found on ACHI’s COVID-19 in Arkansas web page at achi.net/covid19. On ACHI’s map of Arkansas school districts, a district with 50 to 99 new known infections per 10,000 residents is shaded red, and a district with 100 or more new known infections per 10,000 residents is shaded purple.
The school-district infection numbers reported by ACHI refer to infections among community residents living within the geographical boundaries of the school districts and are not specific to school employees and students. Known infections include confirmed and probable cases. Probable cases are based on verbal reporting and antigen test results, as identified by the Department of Health.
Infection rates and counts are not shown for districts with fewer than five reported infections to reduce the possibility of identifying individuals. School district counts do not include infections among incarcerated populations, in nursing homes, or in human development centers.
See the list of which school districts have and haven’t implanted a mask requirement:
ACHI is a nonpartisan, independent health policy center that serves as a catalyst for improving the health of all Arkansans through evidence-based research, public issue advocacy, and collaborative program development.