Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson held a news conference on Monday, April 6th, 2020 to update on the COVID-19 pandemic.
SEE KEY NOTES, STATISTICS & VIDEO BELOW.
The Governor announced Monday afternoon that school would continue to operate at home on Alternative Methods of Instruction (AMI) for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.
This image shows Arkansas near bottom right and the line of cases is on the lower end.
This image shows how long it has taken for each time the known COVID-19 cases have doubled.
VENTS
He also stated over the course of the conference that at his request, UAMS will be transferring 5 ventilators to Louisiana, since that state is in a greater need at this time. In answering a reporter question, he stated that Arkansas has just under 800 ventilators total, 550 of those are in use and there are more on order. The Governor stated, “We need to save lives this day.”
SCHOOLS
Secretary of Education Johnny Key gave specifics for the schools, noting that if there are some schools who are rural, smaller, in remote areas or have other challenges, they should contact the Department of Education for help with producing more AMI material or other needed support through the end of the school year.
He asked school districts to be flexible, stating, “This is a time for more emphasis on support and learning, and less emphasis on compliance.”
Secretary Key also stated the following:
- Students can take AP tests from home,
- ACT tests are being rescheduled and have not gone to an at-home method yet,
- School report cards are based on the ACT Aspire test results each year, so that will be affected
- There are about 35,000 seniors currently in public schools
- They are working on ways to get caught up for next fall, but said this emergency would have a “ripple effect”
Dr. Nate Smith, State Secretary of Health listed the current statistics for COVID-19 patients below:
- 875 cases
- 74 hospitalized
- 16 deaths
- 65 counties (out of 75)
- 949 tests were processed Sunday
- 822 by commercial labs, with 4% positive
- 76 by state labs, with 10.5% positive
- 22 are currently on a ventilator (↓5)
- 102 are recovered (↑5)
- 59 in nursing homes
- 32 are workers
- 122 healthcare workers
- 15 are doctors
- 36 are nurses
- 15 are CNAs
- 56 are various types
- 2.3% under 18
- 6.7% 18-24
- 30.3% 25-44
- 34.9% 45-64
- 25.7% 65 and over
- 31.6% have underlying conditions