In the News

Arkansas cases top 400; lab work lags as supplies dearth foils tests access

Arkansas Democrat Gazette
3/29/2020

The coronavirus claimed two more lives in Arkansas as of Saturday, and supply-chain issues have bogged down plans to expand testing in the state, officials said Saturday.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a briefing with reporters that a shortage of supplies and materials to run lab tests for the coronavirus is a "continued frustration" that has stymied plans to expand testing access.

"I felt like we had done everything that we should do" to increase capacities at the Arkansas Department of Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and commercial labs, he said.

"[But] every one of those testing machines has to have a sequence of supplies [and] reagents [that] make the laboratory process work. ... It is that supply chain now that is backed up."

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Hutchinson said he reached out Friday to federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, as well as private-sector contacts, to ask for help and push "every envelope I can."

Tests are prioritized for health care workers, senior citizens, people in hospitals or nursing homes, and people with chronic conditions, which still leaves out a lot of people the state would like to see tested, state Secretary of Health Dr. Nate Smith said.

The problem is "not just an Arkansas issue," Smith said, but a national bottleneck, complicated by severe situations in other areas that's hindered typical inter-state cooperation.

The latest deaths, as of Saturday, were a person in their 40s and a person in their 70s from Central Arkansas. That raises the state death toll to five since the first fatality was reported Tuesday. Also Saturday afternoon, positive diagnoses of the virus topped 400 in the state, reaching 409.

Covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, has spread across the globe in just a few months, killing more than 29,000 people and advancing in Arkansas. Cases have been found in 43 of the state's 75 counties, and officials Saturday reported the first known cases in Baxter and Johnson counties.

That spread and a limited ability to test for the virus is why people in Arkansas should keep up "social distancing" practices, Smith said. They should limit travel, avoid nonessential outings and stay six feet away from others, he said.

While the state issued a directive banning most gatherings of more than 10 people, Hutchinson said he's still "watching the trend-line" to make a call on a formal shelter-in-place order, which governors of more than a dozen states have enacted.

He doesn't want to stop people from doing business while taking precautions, he said. Current restrictions include closures of schools, barbershops, beauty salons, tattoo parlors, and bars and restaurant dining areas.

Hutchinson also said he hoped that people who continue to gather in parks and public spaces would "pay more attention" and voluntarily heed prohibitions on congregating, though law enforcement has the power to break those groups up.

"Sometimes it's just that people aren't paying attention," he said. "We're not trying to give people citations, we're not trying to run people's lives."

Smith drew attention to hot spots of infection around the country, such as New York and New Orleans. The metropolitan area around Louisiana's largest city has more than 2,000 cases and close to 100 deaths, according to that state's health agency.

Such regional epidemics also were a focus for President Donald Trump on Saturday, who floated the idea of a quarantine on the states of New York, New Jersey and parts of Connecticut, reports said.

Smith urged people who had traveled to affected areas to self-quarantine for 14 days after returning to Arkansas. Residents also should get creative about plans for worship or weddings, which frail family members might attend.

"It would be a terrible thing, a tragic thing, if individuals became infected, became sick, were in the hospital or worse because they gathered together at what was supposed to be a happy occasion," Smith said.

ECONOMIC SAFEGUARDS

At Saturday's news conference, Arkansas officials outlined state and federal initiatives intended to fight virus-related economic fallout, such as business closures, job losses and stock market turbulence.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor reported 3.3 million new unemployment claims nationwide -- more job losses than there are people in Arkansas, and the highest number ever recorded for one week.

In Arkansas, a record-setting 30,000 unemployment claims strained systems, and officials now are upgrading web systems to cope with increased volume and smooth out "glitches," Secretary of Commerce Mike Preston said.

"We hope to be caught up, but we realize over the next couple of weeks [that] those [unemployment] numbers will not improve," he added. "Be patient with us. You will get processed."

Officials also touted the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, a $2 trillion stimulus package that Trump signed Friday that's intended to blunt the economic impact of the crisis.

Recapping its provisions, U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., said the legislation secures $1,200 payments for most adults who make less than $75,000 a year, boosts unemployment benefits, offers protections for gig workers, defers payroll taxes paid by businesses and waives tax penalties on retirement-fund withdrawals.

The governor said he hoped the enhanced benefits under the program would not discourage people in Arkansas from working. A state-level emergency relief bill that state legislators passed in special session late last week and Hutchinson signed early Saturday extended tax deadlines, among other measures.

Details on a pay bump for front-line health workers such as nurses and respiratory therapists -- part of an initiative involving a Medicaid program waiver, which must be approved by regulators -- also are being ironed out, he said.

The state's banking industry will offer protections for small-business owners, such as loan guarantees, fee waivers, loan forbearance and deferrals, said Rob Robinson, chairman of the Arkansas Bankers Association.

Asked if there have been reports of unusual levels of bank withdrawals, he said no, but "in pockets, we've heard of folks' concern."

No Arkansas bank is experiencing a liquidity crisis, he said.

"Your money is safe in the bank -- not in your mattress, or buried in a coffee can buried in the backyard," Robinson said.

CHRONIC CONDITIONS

For the first time Saturday, health officials provided a detailed breakdown of the other health conditions of local patients who have covid-19. The ailments are thought to increase the risk of serious complications, including death.

More than 45% of Arkansans have such health issues, according to an analysis from health policy nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. Age also is a risk factor.

Of covid-19 patients in the state, five are pregnant, 32 have diabetes, 29 have heart disease, 19 have lung disease, nine have kidney disease and 11 have a condition that compromises their immune systems, Smith said. (Some may have more than one condition.)

More women than men continue to be diagnosed in Arkansas, making up 61% of the current cohort. About 74% of the patients are white, 15% are black and the remaining 11% identify as a different race.

That loosely tracks with state demographic estimates, in which about 72% of the state's population is non-Hispanic white, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

The age breakdown of patients includes 15 children, 259 adults between the ages of 19-64, and 130 people age 65 or older.

Forty-two cases of the coronavirus -- about one in 10 -- have been linked to nursing homes, including residents and staff members, but no new cases were reported by Saturday, Smith said.

Twenty-four people have recovered for the virus, and hospitalization figures were unchanged from Friday, with 48 people hospitalized and 17 using ventilators.

A recent report by the Arkansas Hospital Association estimated that under one "moderate" scenario, 12,720 people in Arkansas will need hospital care at the peak of the outbreak, with 2,760 needing intensive care.

That model, which is drawn from Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Global Health Institute modeling, predicts the peak will arrive in June.