By: Ray King
Brian Thomas, the CEO of Jefferson Regional Hospital said Tuesday that currently, the facility is in “pretty good shape” when it comes to P.P.E.’s (Personal Protection Equipment), and credited hospital staff for being able to keep pace with testing for the COVID-19 virus.
He said the swab testing is being done on “people who need to be tested.”
Thomas was one of the speakers at a COVID-19 update arranged by Mayor Shirley Washington and held at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
He said he was asked to speak from the perspective of the hospital and what they are doing. Currently, there are 33 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Jefferson County, including, Thomas said, a number of hospital employees who contracted the coronavirus through early dealings with patients.
“We’ve got a number of patients but we can manage easily,” Thomas said.
Fire and Emergency Services Chief Shauwn Howell said the firefighters are still responding to emergencies but city residents may see them wearing personal protection equipment such as masks, gowns and the like when they arrive at a scene.
“This is for our safety and for your safety,” Howell said.
In her remarks, Washington first encouraged residents to watch Governor Asa Hutchinson’s daily news conference on COVID-19, then thanked first responders, firefighters, police officers, paramedics who work for EASI (Emergency Ambulance Service Inc.) for the job they are doing.
County Judge Gerald Robinson said, “We’re all working together to try and curtail this deadly disease.”
As many of the other speakers did, Robinson encouraged the community to observe orders about social distancing and not gathering in groups, and said “we’re still moving forward and fighting together.”
Police Chief Kelvin Sergeant talked about the curfew, which runs daily from p.m. to 5 a.m., for all ages and from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., for children under the age of 17. He also mentioned that city parks are closed and said one of the reasons for that is if one infected person sat on a park bench or used park equipment, it could affect a number of other people who came into contact with it.
Washington said a special phone number has been set up to report curfew violations. That number is 870-541-5300.
On other matters, Washington said Pine Bluff Transit is currently running regular and handicapped routes from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and because of social distancing, future council meetings will be closed to the public.
She ended with the three C’s, “stay calm, stay cautious and stay clean.”
