By Ray King
Governor Asa Hutchinson on Friday was asked about a celebration held at Pine Bluff High School to recognize graduating seniors who will not be able to participate in a formal ceremony.
The celebration involved students, faculty and administrators gathering in their vehicles while they listened to Mayor Shirley Washington who was broadcasting from the Oldies 101.3 studio.
“There are a lot of ways to celebrate and as long as they were in their vehicles they were self-protecting themselves,” Hutchinson said. “You can’t be hugging and having close contact with others.”
As far as the current numbers are concerned, State Health Officer Dr. Nate Smith said there are currently 1,171 cases of COVID-19, that’s an increase of 77 from Thursday. Of those cases, 836 are active.
Eighty-six people are currently hospitalized, an increase of 13 from Thursday. A total of 168 of the cases are health care workers, an increase of 10 from Thursday.
There have also been 23 deaths attributed to COVID-19, one of them a person under the age of 65, the other a person over the age of 65. Two of those deaths occurred in Jefferson County.
Asked specifically about how the deaths are attributed, Smith said that if someone came into a hospital and had COVID-19, the death would be attributed to COVID-19, even if there were other underlying conditions.
The governor talked specifically about one of those deaths, Richard Richardson, who was a substance abuse counselor for the Arkansas Department of Community Corrections and the first state employee to die from COVID-19.
Using a graph, Hutchinson said that the Arkansas Department of Health initially projected that by April 10 there would be up to 3,500 cases of COVID-19 in the state and attributed programs like social distancing, wearing masks and closing schools, eat-in dining at restaurants, gyms, and other facilities for keeping the totals low.
Smith said there have been no COVID-19 cases reported in any of the state’s prisons but health officials are watching that closely because in a closed environment, the disease would spread rapidly.
With Sunday being Easter, Hutchinson invited Little Rock minister Rex Horne to participate in the press conference and Horne that church attendance on Easter Sunday is typically one of the largest of the year but this year services will be different and many churches will use social media to get their message out.
Horne said Friday was the day Christ was crucified and on Sunday he arose from the grave.
He said all Arkansas residents have to do their part and “another day is coming. A good day.”
Because of the Easter holiday, Hutchinson said he is suspending the daily press conference Saturday and Sunday and will resume it on Monday.
