Three additional people in Arkansas have tested presumptively positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the state to 12, Gov. Asa Hutchinson and health officials said Saturday.
All three positive cases were health care workers who came into contact with the first patient at Jefferson Regional in Pine Bluff, state Health Secretary Nate Smith said during a 1:30 p.m. news conference at the Arkansas Health Department. All are in isolation, but none of the workers are in the hospital.
Smith said officials are prioritizing testing for those who have had contact with known cases. The next testing priority is for those with severe illness consistent with coronavirus. Finally, as the Health Department has the ability, officials will test high-risk outpatients with syndromes consistent with the illness.
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Strategies for combatting coronavirus are subject to change as the illness spreads, according to Smith.
“As we identify cases outside of the Central Arkansas area we will refocus our efforts and adjust according to the risks,” he said.
During the news conference, Hutchinson also said the state’s emergency operations center has been activated and that he has authorized the Arkansas National Guard to support logistics, transportation and call center support.
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“I want to make sure that they’re ready and available,” Hutchinson said of the National Guard. “And so I have activated them as an additional resource to make available to our public health team.”
Hutchinson said his greatest concern regarding the illness is currently “what we do not know.”
Other Arkansans have probably contracted coronavirus, but limited testing capacity means they haven’t yet been confirmed, he said.
Cam Patterson, chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said officials hope to have an additional machine for testing within the next week or so. It would increase the capacity for testing from 20 tests per day to 160 per day, according to Patterson.
“We’re working very diligently with the manufacturer to make sure that we remain a high-priority destination for the machine,” he said. “There’s obviously a great demand for these machines nationwide, but our need is a critically important one.”
The increased capacity would also enable test results to be turned around within approximately six hours, instead of taking as long as several days, he said.
Patterson said another issue slowing testing and care is the high volume of people coming to emergency rooms.
“It’s really critical for us to emphasize the fact that if you are concerned about the possibility of [being] infected and you are well enough to stay at home, that’s where you need to be,” he said.
Free screening resources are available for those worried they may have contracted the illness, including UAMS HealthNow, Patterson said. Additionally, people can call a hotline: 1-800-632-4502.