By Ray King
According to Arkansas’ Secretary of Health, 10 percent of the COVID-19 cases reported in the state came from federal and state prisons, and another 11 percent from nursing homes.
Speaking at Governor Asa Hutchinson’s daily press briefing on COVID-19, Dr. Nate Smith said 28 nursing facilities in the state have reported cases of the virus, which has affected 93 residents and 71 workers. Six of the 32 deaths state-wide were patients at nursing homes.
Regarding the prisons, while there have been no new cases reported at Cummins Prison near Grady, 43 of 46 inmates in one barracks tested positive for COVID-19 and 10 staff members of either the Department of Corrections or Department of Community Corrections previously tested positive. At the Central Arkansas Correctional Facility, 17 inmates and 10 staff tested positive. At the Federal Correctional Facility in Forrest City, 55 inmates and staff have tested positive.
Hutchinson said he and Smith had talked to Attorney General Bill Barr earlier Tuesday and Barr said the medical team from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, along with the Federal Centers for Disease Control will jointly deal with the outbreak at Forrest City.
In his daily update, the Governor said 85 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the statewide total to 1,498. Of those, 1,024 are active cases. Two additional deaths were reported, bringing the total statewide to 32. One of those was over the age of 65 while the second, Smith said, was in their 50’s.
There are currently 81 COVID-19 patients who are hospitalized and Hutchinson was asked about a statement he made in March that he expected the number of patients hospitalized to be about 1,000.
“I’m no expecting that now,” Hutchinson said, adding that when he made that statement, he was basing it on models that have changed every day since. “Based on where we see the peak going, we’re not going to reach those high numbers.”
He also talked about a directive he issued that prohibited hotels, motels and lodges from renting rooms to people coming to the state for recreational purposes, saying that it appeared that travelers from other states were attempting to leave hot spots and come to Arkansas where there have been fewer cases.
Signs on message boards across the state relay that information.
“We’re not ready to relax social distancing,” the Governor said. “the decision is based on the best public health practices.”
Also speaking was Dexter Payne, the director of the Department of Corrections who said the department is doing all It can to reduce the possibility of COVID-19 affecting other units or staff. In-person visitation was suspended until June 1 and the fees for video visitation and telephone visitation were reduced.
Also, inmates are now moved one barracks at a time to meals and for recreation to reduce the possibility of spreading the virus from one barracks to another. Also, the inmates who tested positive in the one barracks at Cummins are being isolated there, and they do everything, including having their meals, inside that barracks.
Currently, testing for COVID-19 is taking place only at Cummins and Smith said if any positive results are reported at another prison unit, state health officers will work with closely with health officials at that prison on testing.
