By Ray King
Governor Asa Hutchinson announced Thursday that his daily COVID-19 updates, which have been going on since early March will be halted after Friday.
Hutchinson said he will switch to a weekly or an “as needed” format for the updates, which he described as having been a “useful tool for communicating directly with the public.” He said that advances in communication, particularly with updates to the Department of Health website will allow information on the virus to still be obtained.
The governor also thanked the public for their support during the 143 days the updates have occurred.
In the past 24 hours, 398 new cases of COVID-19 were reported, bringing the state’s cumulative total to 66,804. Of those, 5,196 are active and another 60,668 have recovered.
Hospitalizations decreased by 19 to 392 and there were 12 additional deaths, bringing the total statewide to 940. State Health Officer Dr. Jose Romero said three of those deaths were in nursing homes, one in a correctional facility and three others were late reports.
Four counties reported 20 or more new cases, led by Pulaski County with 72, followed by Washington County with 37, Jefferson County with 33 and Craighead County.
Hutchinson said he hoped the lower number for Washington County means that progress has been made in reducing cases at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
New cases of COVID-19 in the past four days have been under 400 and the Governor said he was encouraged by the lower numbers and believed they were because people were following the guidelines like wearing masks and social distancing, that contract tracing was successfully helping to reduce clusters and testing numbers have been steady.
