Twenty-seven rural hospitals across the state will receive $10 million worth of financial assistance to provide more services for more patients during the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Saturday.
The money will come from a grant normally used for community revitalization projects and will give hospitals a "big shot in the arm" at a time when they've been strained at unprecedented levels, said Dr. Cam Patterson, chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
On Saturday, the number of positive coronavirus cases across the state since the start of the emergency was 1,777. Hutchinson also announced that the virus had caused 38 deaths in Arkansas, a day-to-day increase of one.
Saturday's number of infections marked a relatively modest daily increase of 44, but Hutchinson pointed out that the latest total did not include the 230 or so positive cases among inmates at the Cummins Unit, one of the state's highest-capacity prisons.
[CORONAVIRUS: Click here for our complete coverage » arkansasonline.com/coronavirus]
Tests are still being administered to prisoners at the Lincoln County facility, and the results will remain separate from the statewide figures because such a surge of positive results from a single facility would "skew" the reporting, Hutchinson said.
Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, an infectious-diseases specialist for the Arkansas Department of Health, who joined Hutchinson during the news conference Saturday, said all of the positive cases were among inmates and that all of the unit's employees have tested negative so far.
"I think there is a good handle on the situation there," she said, adding that the warden and his staff have followed all of the recommended guidelines.
Hutchinson also announced that he had signed an executive order to form the Arkansas Economic Recovery Task Force. The 27-member body will be chaired by Steuart Walton, who sits on the Walmart board of directors, and will include three Cabinet chiefs -- Agriculture Secretary Wes Ward, Commerce Secretary Mike Preston and parks director Stacy Hurst.
[Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90WD3LWo5R0]
Hutchinson had announced Friday and reiterated Saturday that he had set May 4 as the goal to reopen portions of the economy and "lift some of those restrictions" that were put into place when the coronavirus emergency was declared.
He said the task force would look for ways to help "put this economy in higher gear, but do it in a way that's consistent with public-health requirements."
The committee's first meeting likely will take place next week, the governor said.
HELP TO HOSPITALS
In all, each of the selected Arkansas hospitals will receive from $250,000 to $500,000 from the $10 million slice from the Community Development Block Grant program, Hutchinson said.
[Gallery not loading above? Click here for more photos » arkansasonline.com/419gov/]
Many of Hutchinson's statements Saturday centered on bolstering health care capabilities in rural areas.
Another portion of that $10 million -- $500,000 -- will be used by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to enhance its telemedicine program across the state, Patterson said. Telemedicine allows for more doctor-patient interaction and care via the internet.
Hutchinson also held up an Abbott machine during Saturday's news conference. The machine, roughly the size of a bread-maker, has the capability to provide test results in a matter of minutes.
Abbott received an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration so that the machines can be distributed quickly, according to the company's website. Hutchinson said the machine requires testing kits, and there is an effort across the state and across the country to "improve the supply chain."
[Interactive Arkansas map not showing up above? Click here to see it: arkansasonline.com/arvirus]
While on the subject of more-accessible testing, Patterson said a UAMS mobile unit has visited -- and will continue to visit -- some of the state's less-populated areas to provide more coronavirus tests to more patients.
Patterson said the mobile unit makes stops at three communities per week. Most recently, it stopped in Texarkana and Forrest City. Next week, it is headed to Marianna, Camden and McGehee, he said.
The mobile unit has so far screened 431 people and tested 183 of them. Of those 183 patients, only one tested positive in those smaller communities, Patterson said.
"This is a great way for the state of Arkansas to provide surveillance for covid-19 infection for individuals no matter where [they] live," he said.
CLOSER LOOK
Dillaha said of the 1,739 positive cases reported Saturday afternoon, 998 of them were still active.
She said 703 of those cases resulted in full recoveries, which included 110 recoveries from the previous 24 hours.
She also said 86 patients remain hospitalized. Since the start of the pandemic, 291 Arkansans have been hospitalized with 57 of them put on ventilators, according to statistics.
As of Saturday, 22 patients remained on ventilators, down from 23 the previous day, Dillaha said.
Nationwide, there have been more than 726,000 cumulative cases reported and about 38,000 deaths, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The national death rate from covid-19 is 5.2%. By comparison, Arkansas' death rate from the virus is less than 2.2%, according to CDC numbers.
On Saturday, 23 health workers from UAMS and Arkansas Children's hospital flew to New York to assist health care workers during the pandemic. They said they volunteered to go where infections are the most rampant.
New York had more than 135,000 confirmed cases and more than 13,000 deaths as of Saturday.
Metro on 04/19/2020