Day 35 – Wed. Apr. 15, 2020

Here are some Key Notes, Statistics, and Video for Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson’s news update on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today’s news conference focused on:

Stopping the plan for surge capacity.
Relaxed COVID-19 testing criteria.
Bonuses for healthcare workers.

Guest speakers in the conference today were Cindy Gillespie, Secretary of Department of Human Service; and Dr. Greg Bledsoe, Arkansas Surgeon General. Dr. Nate Smith, State Secretary of Health also listed the current statistics for COVID-19 patients (scroll to end).

(Click any image to enlarge)

: Dr. Greg Bledsoe, Arkansas Surgeon General

Governor Hutchinson began the conference with charts showing the number of new COVID-19 Cases on a daily basis in Arkansas (fig.1), as well as the daily number of people with COVID-19 that have been hospitalized (fig. 2). The Governor used data like this to make the decision to stop the plan for a surge capacity. This means the state is satisfied that hospitals have the capacity and resources to care for patients without expansion to external temporary medical facilities, like War Memorial Stadium, which was a possibility.

Above, figure 1.

Above, figure 2.

The Governor stated that the University of Washington model originally had a projected case peak of April 24th for Arkansas, and then extended it to April 27th, and again to May 2nd. He said this is good because it’s a longer and lower peak.

Dr. Smith stated that they are now relaxing the testing criteria to anyone with symptoms consistent with COVID-19. He said that the testing criteria was originally limited to healthcare workers long-term care hospitals those with symptoms those that are over age 65 and underlying issues, and other risk factors, contact with a positive case, or travel that presents risk.

The governor stated that some of the parts of the Medicaid waiver that he requested weeks ago for nurses in hospitals “have not been acted upon” but that the most important part is direct payment to workers in the long-term care facilities, to provide bonus pay for those who provide direct care for COVID-19 patients and for those who are caring for those at risk. he announce that Arkansas received approval from Medicaid in Washington’s to start those direct care payments for long-term care services. “This is extraordinary good news for those out on the front line that have been putting themselves at risk and have shown their commitment to healthcare during this national emergency.”

Governor Hutchinson went on to say that there are some employees who are not covered and that he wants to fill that gap. The Governor stated that for the first meeting of the CARES Act Steering Committee, “I will be asking them to approve a sum of money that will be utilized to cover these same supplemental payments for our hospital direct care workers and our non direct care workers in hospital and nursing home settings.” the direct care workers payments will be effective on April 5th and will end on May 30th, but if our number of cases in Arkansas at that time exceed 1000, then on that date of May 30th, the payments are authorized to continue for an additional 30-day period. But in no event would it last beyond the national public health emergency that we’re currently in.

According to Gillespie, it’s up to the employer to contact the state with the employee info to get the funds to put in the worker paychecks. she stated that the bonus payments would be taxed as normal salary and it is available to employees in private and public institutions.

At a reporter’s request, Gillespie gave numbers for how many employees would possibly be getting bonuses. She stated that there are currently 26,818 that have been approved for the bonuses. The other workers whose bonus will be considered by the CARES Act Committee are 25,000 direct care workers 21,000 non-direct care workers. She stated it would be a total of around 75,000 workers to receive a bonus if all is approved.

Dr. Bledsoe praised Governor Hutchinson for acting quickly on healthcare worker payments. He said that this is personal for him because he is a practicing emergency physician. “These aren’t statistics to me. I see people’s faces. I think of people who are working with these patients,” stated Bledsoe. “I have concern for personal friends of mine and for myself as we work in these environments. So this is a big deal for healthcare workers. Thank you to the Governor for taking it upon himself to support our healthcare workers.”

He also publicly responded to the questions he has been getting about reopening the state. As part of the Governor’s medical advisory committee Bledsoe said they are already meeting in the mornings. “We’re going to let science and good data drive the discussion as far as making these decisions about what to open, how soon to open, and under what parameters do we open things.”

The doctor also said that he wants business owners to know that the committee understands it’s not just a healthcare crisis, but also an economic crisis. “We want to do what’s right for the public health of Arkansas, but we also want to do what’s right for the economy and for workers in the state of Arkansas,” stated Bledsoe. “We take that very seriously so we are looking at that and we’re going to be making some decisions soon and taking our recommendations to the Governor for his his feedback.”

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

1569 total cases
83 hospitalizations
- 18 new hospitalizations
- 16 discharges
33 deaths (up by 1)
71 new cases
1047 active cases
26 on a ventilator
489 recovered (up by 45)
215 healthcare workers
28 nursing homes involved
- 98 nursing home residents
- 88 nursing home workers
- 7 nursing home deaths