Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Wednesday that Arkansas will further ease restrictions on businesses next week, allowing restaurants, bars, movie theaters and other businesses to fill more of their space with customers.
Hutchinson announced the move to the second phase despite an acceleration in the growth of cases and a rise in hospitalizations that started after the state entered its first phase of loosened restrictions on May 4.
As of Wednesday, 3,087 Arkansans had active infections, meaning they had tested positive and hadn't recovered, and 181 were hospitalized -- both numbers that were well above the previous peak in late April.
Total cases rose Wednesday by 288, to 10,368, while the count of virus deaths rose by four, to 165.
Hutchinson said that "there's no evidence of a correlation" between the lifting of restrictions and the increase in cases.
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"This is because the restaurants, the gyms, the barbershops and salons are taking precautions, and they value their patrons and they're following the public health guidelines," he said.
Although White House guidelines call for a state to meet certain "gating criteria" before moving from one stage of reopening to the next, Hutchinson said those are "based upon the supposition that we're all going to peak like New York or Louisiana did -- that there's going to be one peak just like the Colorado Rockies, versus multiple smaller spikes or peaks like we have in Arkansas."
"We have a trend line that is more like the rolling Ozark hills," he said.
The move means that starting Monday, restaurants, bars and other businesses that were previously limited to using a third of their capacity will be allowed to use two-thirds.
The state Department of Health will issue rules with more details by Friday afternoon, Hutchinson said.
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LITTLE ROCK READY
Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said the state's largest city is ready to move to Phase 2 while keeping up efforts to prevent the spread of the illness.
"We remain concerned about covid-19, so that's the reason we're going to continue to prioritize testing and mask distribution, but we have to also balance our economic recovery," Scott said.
He said he will continue to promote social distancing and that the city has updated its remote work policy and encourages city employees who can work from home to do so.
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City Hall is to reopen to the public sometime between the end of June and mid-July.
The Little Rock Zoo is working with the Health Department on a plan to reopen with some modifications by next month, Scott said.
Several crowd-prone city parks are still closed indefinitely on the weekends.
The mayor said he would consider a mask ordinance for the capital city but would need to get legal guidance to see if it was possible.
He added that many businesses in the city are enforcing mask-wearing on their own, noting he observed that customers weren't allowed to order without face coverings while he was picking up takeout from a Chipotle earlier in the day.
Montine McNulty, CEO of the Arkansas Hospitality Association, called the move to Phase 2 "good news" for restaurants.
In addition to allowing restaurants to use 66% of their seating capacity, she said, she hopes the Health Department will change the rules so tables will only have to be 6 feet apart instead of 10 feet.
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"For a small restaurant, this increase, they won't be able to add another table" unless the spacing requirement is changed, she said.
She noted that some restaurants have been waiting until Phase 2 before they open because operating at 33% of their capacity wouldn't have been profitable.
Some that have been opening have been struggling.
"I don't know if it will make a big difference, but they're fighting for every dollar that they can get, so any uptick in revenue is going to help," McNulty said.
Asked about the spacing requirements for tables under Phase 2, Health Department spokesman Danyelle McNeill said in an email that "the details will be [released] once they have been finalized."
Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, said he was also happy with the announcement.
In a letter to Hutchinson that Sullivan posted to Facebook this week, the lawmaker called the Health Department's regulations arbitrary and excessive, and he said many businesses in northeast Arkansas planned to move to Phase 2 on Friday.
"I'm thankful for the governor for the guidance he's given our state all through this pandemic," Sullivan said Wednesday. "I'm glad that he listens to the people of the state."
CRITERIA EXAMINED
Before moving from one phase of reopening to the next, the White House guidelines call for a state to have a "downward trajectory" over 14 days in the number of new coronavirus cases that are reported or in the percentage of total tests that are positive.
In Arkansas, an average of about 329 cases had been reported each day over the past seven days as of Wednesday.
A week earlier, an average of about 255 cases were reported each day.
Excluding prison inmates who tested positive, the number of new cases reported each day increased from an average of 253 from May 28-June 3 to 304 from June 4 through Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the percentage of test results that are positive has fluctuated over the past two weeks, starting at 6.1% on May 28 and reaching as high as 9.8%, on June 1.
The latest percentage, on Tuesday, was 4.9%. That measure often changes as more laboratory results are reported, however.
Hutchinson cited increased testing as the reason for the increase in cases.
Health Secretary Nate Smith said much of it has stemmed from infections in Northwest Arkansas, among workers in the poultry industry and Hispanics.
Along with the move to Phase 2, Hutchinson said the state will "surge" resources to the northwest part of the state.
According to a summary he displayed at his daily news conference on the pandemic, that includes assigning multilingual contact tracers to focus on the region; increasing staff to conduct inspections and respond to complaints in the restaurant and cosmetology industries; holding more mass testing events; and using messages in various media in English, Spanish and Marshallese to encourage prevention.
At Smith's request, the governor said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also sending the state a team of four or five bilingual staff members to help in the state's Hispanic communities.
RESURGENCE NOT EXPECTED
State officials have pointed to information gathered from people who tested positive as evidence that the increase in new cases hasn't been linked to the first phase of reopening.
Out of the 2,955 people known to have active infections as of Monday, 59 said they had been to a restaurant in the 14 days before their diagnosis, according to a Health Department report.
Twenty-six had been to a barbershop, 35 had been to a church, 15 had been to a day care, nine had been to a gym, 14 had been to a hotel or motel, and 77 had been to a health care provider such as a doctor or dentist.
Those totals could include some people who had visited more than one type of business.
Restaurants and other businesses "went from being closed to being a third capacity," Smith noted.
"If we were going to see a resurgence, that's when we would have expected to see it," he said. "I'm not expecting to see a resurgence going from one-third to two-thirds."
He said he was also encouraged by watching what happened in other states, such as Georgia, that lifted restrictions on business earlier than Arkansas even while their cases were increasing.
"The concern was, is Atlanta going to be the next New Orleans," Smith said. "Well, it wasn't, and that's a good thing."
In Arkansas, he said, the virus has spread quickly in nursing homes, prisons, poultry plants and other settings where people are together for long periods of time. Implementing precautions in those settings can limit the virus's spread, he said.
"If you have no cases, you were lucky," he said "If you have one case, and you don't have any secondary cases, then you know you're doing something right."
Hutchinson also noted that Arkansas has already allowed some activities under its Phase 1 of loosened restrictions that are beyond what the White House guidelines recommend.
For instance, the state allowed day camps and overnight camps to reopen and some types of youth sports to resume even though the White House guidelines don't call for those activities to resume until a state enters Phase 2.
"We've already moved to Phase 2 in many areas," he said.
Hutchinson said last week that he was considering allowing some areas of Arkansas to move to Phase 2 before others.
On Wednesday, he said he had decided the "state is best served moving together, even though we have various regions with a current spike in cases."
CASINOS AFFECTED
Casinos were allowed to open at a third of capacity on May 18 after gaining approval from the Health Department on their plans to protect customers from the spread of the virus.
In West Memphis, Glen White, a spokesman for Southland Casino Racing's owner, Delaware North of Buffalo, N.Y., said officials were very pleased with the governor's "sound approach" to the reopening of the casinos and that they're looking forward to welcoming more guests Monday.
"Since we reopened a few weeks ago, our Play It Safe program has worked well, with guests responding favorably to our protocols," White said. "We will continue to prioritize the health and safety of our guests while providing a great entertainment experience."
Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyt said the casino will announce plans for the expanded opening later this week.
Since reopening, the Hot Springs casino has adjusted its casino hours; required guests to wear masks at all times; banned smoking; and set machine and seating limitations. Only three players are allowed at a blackjack table, for example. Security guards check patrons for masks, take temperatures and scan identification.
In Pine Bluff, casino patrons provide identification, get their temperatures checked, apply hand sanitizer and answer three health-screening questions before entering Saracen Casino Annex.
"We are dedicated to adherence to CDC guidelines and our Arkansas Department of Health-approved protocols," said John Berrey, chairman of the board of the Downstream Development Authority. "For Saracen, the announcement regarding a move to Phase 2 marks a continuation of our commitment to safe operation, and we applaud Governor Hutchinson for his steady-handed leadership and guidance."
'PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY'
The number of hospitalized people Wednesday was up by eight, from 173 a day earlier. Forty-nine patients were on ventilators, an increase of five.
In a statement, Birch Wright, chief operating officer and administrator of Washington Regional Medical System in Fayetteville, called the increase in cases in Northwest Arkansas "a serious public health emergency."
On May 12, he noted, area hospitals had just four covid-19 patients.
"Since then, we've seen the number of hospitalizations double every week, and we now have more than 70 COVID-19 positive patients in area hospitals," Wright said. "Washington Regional is also seeing more critically ill COVID-19 patients, with over 30% of those hospitalized requiring ventilator support."
He said the Fayetteville hospital has accepted transfers of patients from northwestern and northern Arkansas as well as western Oklahoma.
"It is important for our community to understand that we are not seeing more hospitalizations simply because more testing is being done," he said. "We are seeing more hospitalizations because more people in our area are being infected with the virus."
On Tuesday, he said, the hospital opened a second inpatient unit to care for suspected and confirmed covid-19 patients, allowing for it to care for up to 38 virus patients "with the ability to expand capacity as necessary."
The health system on Wednesday also reopened a coronavirus clinic, at 3318 N. North Hills Blvd. in Fayetteville.
"This clinic is dedicated to COVID-19 screening and testing of individuals who do not have any symptoms but who may have had a direct exposure to someone who is COVID-19 positive," he said.
Patients with symptoms are evaluated at an urgent care clinic in the William L. Bradley Medical Plaza on East Appleby Road, he said.
"Washington Regional wants the community to be assured that Washington Regional is prepared for this surge," he said. "Over the past several months, our team has planned and prepared for this pandemic and we have the staff, supplies and resources to effectively respond while continuing our customary health care operations."
INMATES TESTED
The 288 cases that were added to the state's total included 60 positive test results from prison inmates.
Smith said those were primarily at the East Arkansas Regional Unit near Brickeys in Lee County.
Since the first case was found there Friday, officials identified 88 more cases, Department of Corrections spokesman Cindy Murphy said.
That was up from 29 cases listed in a Health Department report on Tuesday.
Four staff members at the prison also tested positive.
The prison, with more than 1,500 inmates, is the fifth adult lockup in the state to experience an outbreak of covid-19.
Murphy said that staff at East Arkansas are taking similar steps to contain the spread that other state prisons took, including quarantining positive-testing inmates together in their own barracks.
Three housing barracks have confirmed positive cases, she said Wednesday. No one has been hospitalized, she said.
Of the other cases added to Wednesday's total, 51 were from Pulaski County, 44 from Washington County, 37 from Benton County, 16 from Crittenden County, 15 from Sevier County and 13 from Craighead County.
Of the 2,750 active cases that were not among prison inmates or nursing home residents, Sevier County had the largest number when compared to its population, Hutchinson noted.
According to a chart he displayed at his news conference, the county had 101 such cases per 10,000 residents.
Yell County had the next highest rate, 44 cases per 10,000 residents, followed by Washington County with 31 cases per 10,000 residents.
"You can see this is not just two counties," Smith said. "We've got activity going on throughout the state, and so all of us need to take those precautions."
Information for this article was contributed by Rachel Herzog and John Moritz of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
