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$1.25B awaited for virus fight in Arkansas; governor sets panel to oversee funds as state cases top 500

Arkansas Democrat Gazette
3/31/2020

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Monday that he expects Arkansas to receive $1.25 billion from the coronavirus aid legislation passed by Congress last week for needs such as adding hospital capacity and buying ventilators and protective medical gear.

He spoke hours after the death of a woman who was among dozens of residents of a Little Rock nursing home who tested positive for the virus and before the number of cases in the state topped 500.

Alice Jett, an 83-year-old resident of Briarwood Nursing and Rehabilitation, died Monday morning at CHI St. Vincent Infirmary in Little Rock, Pulaski County Coroner Gerone Hobbs said.

She was the seventh person in the state, and the first resident of an Arkansas nursing home, to die during the coronavirus pandemic.

Later Monday, the total number of cases reported on a state website rose to 508, an increase of 59 from the previous evening. Arkansas' first case was reported March 11.

The federal money is expected from the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act signed by President Donald Trump on Friday and must be allocated by the end of December.

Hutchinson on Monday appointed a 15-member steering committee of cabinet secretaries and legislators to recommend how the money should be spent in Arkansas. He said he expects the money to be available within 30 days.

The state's budget has been hit by reduced tax collections. But Hutchinson said the federal money must be spent on coronavirus response and can't be used to plug budget holes.

"It's going to be used for the acquisition of hospitals beds that might be needed, the ventilators, respirators, the equipment that I've identified," Hutchinson said.

He said the spending could also help the state prepare for needs beyond this year.

"We don't know what's going to happen next year with it," he said. "So part of it could be the current crisis and meeting the needs and costs, but it also could be looking at the future."

The steering committee includes the secretaries of the departments of Finance and Administration, Commerce, Health, Human Services, Transformation and Shared Services, Public Safety, Inspector General and Education; Hutchinson's Deputy Chief of Staff Bill Gossage; Sens. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, David Wallace, R-Leachville, and Will Bond, D-Little Rock; and Reps. Lane Jean, R-Magnolia, Michelle Gray, R-Melbourne, and Fred Allen, D-Little Rock.