Day 30 – Fri. Apr. 10, 2020

Here are some Key Notes, Statistics, and Video for Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson’s news update on the COVID-19 pandemic. There will not be updates on Saturday or Sunday unless there is an emergency.

Today’s news conference showed numbers that say Arkansas might be flattening its curve. The number of hospitalizations is down; however, there were 3 more deaths in the last 24 hours.

Guest speakers were Mike Preston, Executive Director of the Arkansas Economic Development Council; and Dr. Rex Horne, Jr., Chaplain to the State House of Representatives. Dr. Nate Smith, State Secretary of Health listed the current statistics for COVID-19 patients as usual.

The Governor displayed two charts referring to progress of dealing with COVID-19 in Arkansas. The first (at top) showed a prediction that Arkansas would be at around 3,500 cases on April 10th, but the state was at 1,171 cases at the time of the conference – or about 33% the predicted amount.

The second chart (above) showed the University of Washington model of expected vs. actual hospital beds used. This model predicted Arkansas would be at around 200, but that state was at 86 beds in use for the disease at the time of the conference – or about 43% of the predicted amount.

Hutchinson stated that he and Dr. Smith were able have a phone conference with Dr. Anthony Fauci of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. After Hutchinson and Smith briefed Fauci on the state’s statistics, he said he is pleased with how Arkansas is doing.

Dr. Smith shared a chart (above) reviewing the number of new cases Arkansas each day and expressed hope that the number would begin going down.

His next chart (above) showed the amount of time it has taken for the number of cases to double.

Mike Preston stated that there have been about 132,000 unemployment claims, which is a little bit less then they expected oh, but he noted that there is still time in the week.

Regarding unemployment insurance checks, he stated that if you filed by week ending March 21st or week ending March 28th you should have already received your unemployment compensation check, as well as an additional pandemic unemployment compensation from the federal government.

He further stated that if you filed on the week ending April 4th, you can expect that to be processed on Sunday and get your check or funds into your account this coming Monday.

The Shared Work Program through the CARES Act allows businesses to provide workable hours instead of having a large layoff, according to Preston.

“They can reduce employees’ hours and spread that around so folks are still working. Through the CARES Act, they’re also still able to claim unemployment benefits, just at a smaller rate, based on the hours they’re working.” He said there are currently 44 businesses in Arkansas on this program.

He finished by stating there are 172 loans that have been approved by the AEDC, totaling over $3.5 million.

Dr. Horne then gave a message of encouragement but asked that people continue to hold to the CDC guidelines of social distancing and that although the weekend and Easter are coming, churches and families should continue to find other creative ways to connect instead of a physical gathering.

Dr. Nate Smith, State Secretary of Health listed the current statistics for COVID-19 patients below:

23 deaths (↑ 2 – 1 aged under 65, 1 over 65)
86 hospitalized (↑ 10)
- 23 admitted
- 10 discharged
1171 total cases (↑ 77)
836 of those are active cases (↓5)
- Does not include those previous patients that have recovered or are deceased
312 total recovered cases (↑ 59)
1348 test results yesterday (6.3% positive)
33 are currently on a ventilator (↑ 2)
79 are in nursing home
168 healthcare workers (↑ 10)
- 46 total healthcare workers have recovered