3 more Arkansans die as state cases top 1,100

Hutchinson warns on Easter outings

Gov. Asa Hutchinson refers to a graphic Thursday during his regular briefing showing the number of patients hospitalized with covid-19 in Arkansas compared with surrounding states. He cited Arkansas’ numbers as yet more evidence that his restrictions and Arkansans’ compliance with public health recommendations are working. More photos at arkansasonline.com/410covid/.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/John Sykes Jr.)
Gov. Asa Hutchinson refers to a graphic Thursday during his regular briefing showing the number of patients hospitalized with covid-19 in Arkansas compared with surrounding states. He cited Arkansas’ numbers as yet more evidence that his restrictions and Arkansans’ compliance with public health recommendations are working. More photos at arkansasonline.com/410covid/. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/John Sykes Jr.)

The deaths of three more Arkansans -- including one more nursing-home resident -- from the coronavirus were announced Thursday as the number of cases in the state rose above 1,100.

The state Department of Human Services also announced that the Department of Health is investigating an outbreak of the virus at the 224-bed State Hospital, where seven patients have tested positive.

At his daily news conference on the pandemic, Gov. Asa Hutchinson pointed to yet more evidence that restrictions he has imposed and Arkansans' compliance with public-health recommendations are working to slow the spread of the virus.

He also warned Arkansans, as the weekend and Easter approaches, not to "take anything for granted."

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"We don't need to be out with 20 friends," he said.

"It might be good weather. We need to restrain ourselves. We need to follow the guidelines, and wear your mask if you can't socially distance. Protect yourself and protect others."

THREE NEW DEATHS

The 69 new cases raised the state's total to 1,146, while the three deaths, the most reported by the state in a single day since the first case on March 11, raised the state's toll to 21.

One of those who died recently was a resident at Willowbend Healthcare and Rehabilitation in Marion, where another resident had died earlier of covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

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"Not unlike any other medical situation, neither [the Arkansas Health Care Association] or Willowbend at Marion can comment on patient specific details," Rachel Bunch, director of the association, which represents nursing homes, said in an email.

Another was Richard Richardson, 60, of Little Rock.

According to a coroner's report, he was admitted to a hospital on Monday with respiratory distress and tested positive for covid-19.

An investigator with the coroner's office noted Richardson had a history of diabetes and high blood pressure. He was pronounced dead at 6:19 a.m. Thursday.

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A state website listing Health Department data indicated the other death was in Hempstead County.

State Department of Health Secretary Nate Smith said only that two of the people who died were in their 60s and the other was in his or her 70s.

According to the Health Department, five of the state's deaths have been at nursing homes.

In addition to the ones at Willowbend, those include two at Briarwood Healthcare and Rehabilitation in Little Rock and one at Walnut Ridge Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

However, reports from the Pulaski County coroner's office indicate that three residents at Briarwood have died of covid-19.

The Health Department doesn't discuss individual cases, so the reason for the discrepancy wasn't known Thursday.

STATE HOSPITAL

At the State Hospital, the first patient began running a fever and exhibiting other symptoms on Tuesday and was tested and isolated, the Human Services Department said in a news release.

The positive result came back the next evening.

The other nine patients in the unit and 10 employees were tested Wednesday night, the department said.

The results on Thursday afternoon showed six of the patients were positive. One test result was still pending. All the employees tested negative, the department said.

The department noted that no visitors have been allowed in the psychiatric hospital since March 12. Employees undergo screening, including having their temperatures taken, before each shift.

"[The State Hospital] will follow all directives and guidelines from the Health Department to protect the health and safety of all patients and staff of the hospital," the Human Services Department said in the release.

BELOW PROJECTIONS

At the news conference, Hutchinson displayed a chart showing that the 73 Arkansans hospitalized with covid-19 on Thursday was less than half of what the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation had predicted.

The projections, which are frequently updated with new data, as of Wednesday had predicted that 188 Arkansans would be hospitalized on Thursday, with the number increasing to a peak of 359 on April 25.

The original version, dated March 25, had predicted a peak of 2,183 hospitalizations on April 25.

"A month ago, you would have seen this red line go through the roof," Hutchinson said, pointing to the line showing the predicted hospitalizations.

He also displayed a map and bar graph showing that Arkansas' 2.6 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents was the lowest rate among the 11 states in the NCAA's Southeastern Conference.

Texas had the next lowest rate, with 5.9 patients in the hospital per 100,000 residents, while Louisiana had the highest, 43.7 hospitalized patients per 100,000 residents.

"It's not basketball, but this is covid-19, and we're grateful because Arkansas is really showing that it's up to the task," Hutchinson said.

Health Department spokesman Danyelle McNeill said the information was collected from state websites this week.

"Some states report the hospitalization rates daily, whereas others reported those on a less than daily basis," she said.

Another chart used orange bars to show changes since March 11 in the growth of cases in the state each day as well as in individual counties.

Hutchinson pointed to some counties, such as Cleburne -- where dozens of members of a church tested positive -- and Benton, because in both the growth had almost slowed to a halt.

"Hats off to Cleburne County for their success and how they've reduced that spread," Hutchinson said.

In Pulaski County, however, which has the largest number of cases, the number of people testing positive increased by 20, to 221, from Wednesday evening to Thursday evening.

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ABORTION CLINIC

Hutchinson said the Health Department had inspected the Little Rock Family Planning Clinic to see if it was in compliance with a department directive, issued Friday, requiring health care facilities, "including ambulatory surgery centers and abortion facilities," to delay procedures, tests and office visits, "that can be safely postponed."

Texas officials have said a similar order in their state, ostensibly meant to preserve medical gear and hospital capacity during the pandemic, prohibits abortions other than those to protect the mother's life or health.

Hutchinson has said Arkansas' order is "almost identical" to Texas' but hasn't been as explicit about its intended effect on abortions.

A federal judge on Thursday for a second time blocked Texas' order from banning elective abortions, saying providers can continue performing some abortions while their lawsuit challenging the order is pending, according to The Associated Press.

"The concern is for all the clinics that are in an urban areas that do elective procedures that are not time sensitive, that they delay operations," Hutchinson said.

At the Little Rock abortion clinic, Smith said the department found that "a significant portion of the patients were coming from surrounding states, and have advised them to discourage that" to prevent people with covid-19 from coming into the state.

"If they choose to do that, I think that would be a good thing, and if they don't, just like if it were any other medical or surgical center bringing people from out of state, we would consider further directives," Smith said.

Asked if Arkansas' order prohibits abortions, Smith said, "We discourage any kind of elective procedure, anything that can be postponed, for obvious reasons.

"For all of our surgical centers for example, we realize that the judgment on whether something can wait or not safely really needs to be primarily made by that clinical provider."

Bettina Brownstein, an attorney for the clinic, said the clinic is "considering the health care of its patients and abiding by the directives of the Department of Health."

WAIVER TALKS

Meanwhile, Human Services Department spokesman Amy Webb said Thursday that she was mistaken a day earlier when she said the department had not heard from federal officials on its request for a waiver allowing it to spend $116 million in Medicaid funds to provide relief to nursing-home workers, doctors, hospitals and others.

She said the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has asked the department to shift some components of its request to "a new vehicle they announced last week -- a disaster State Amendment Plan."

Hutchinson said one issue is "a debate about whether that should be provided by Medicaid funds" or other federal funds for coronavirus disaster relief.

"I stressed the urgency of it," Hutchinson said. "We can't wait, because [the other funds are] not going to be coming until late April, and then by the time you make decisions on that, that's not quick enough for our workers."

NEW CASES

The number of Arkansans who were hospitalized had fallen by three from a day earlier. Smith said that reflected 24 people who had been discharged and 21 new admissions.

The number of people people on ventilators increased by one, to 31.

Eighteen of those who had tested positive were health care workers, raising the number of such workers who have tested positive to 158.

Eight nursing-home residents and four workers at the facilities were also among those testing positive, raising the total number of residents who have tested positive to 82 and staff members to 49, according to the Health Department.

Briarwood has the largest number of affected residents, 37; followed by the Waters of White Hall, with 17; Willowbend, with 11; and Walnut Ridge, with nine.

Fifteen residents and two workers at Daughters of the Other Side, a faith-based substance-abuse program in Higginson, near Searcy, have tested positive, according to a Health Department report.

It also listed a worker at one of the state's human development centers, which house the developmentally disabled, as having tested positive.

Information for this story was contributed by Eric Besson of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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Coronavirus daily updates and cumulative covid-19 cases in Arkansas

A Section on 04/10/2020

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