Governor weighs cities’ power to mandate masks
Gov. Asa Hutchinson initially said Tuesday that cities will not be able to enforce their own requirements for people to wear masks in public places after he eliminates the state’s mandate.
But he later clarified that he’s still considering the issue.
“My comments today represent my current thinking but are not final,” Hutchinson said in a statement responding to questions from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
“The issue of how the mask mandate will be lifted is still under review, and the precise details will be issued next Tuesday.”
At his weekly news conference on the pandemic, Hutchinson also said he’s “not happy with the speed of distribution” of vaccines in the state but that he still thinks it’s too early to lift restrictions on who can get the shots.
“I think we’re running into a little bit of a continued demand problem in the sense that as people in their communities see lower case numbers, they’re less motivated to get a vaccination, and we’ve got to reverse that trend,” Hutchinson said.
“I’m going to ask everyone: When it’s your turn, get a shot. Get that shot in your arm because it helps our en
tire state to completely move out of this pandemic.”
Hutchinson’s comments came as the state’s count of virus cases rose by 239, the sixth daily increase in a row that was smaller than the one a week earlier.
The number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 fell for the sixth straight day, reaching its lowest level since June 9.
The state’s death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose by three, to 5,547.
Hutchinson said last month that he would lift the state’s mask requirement on March 31 if, at that time, less than 10% of the state’s coronavirus tests are positive over a rolling seven-day period and at least 7,500 tests are being conducted each day.
If fewer than 7,500 tests are being conducted a day, then the mandate will be lifted if fewer than 750 patients with covid-19 are in hospitals.
“We are far below that criteria, so everyone can expect on March 31 for that mask mandate to be lifted,” Hutchinson said Tuesday.
The Republican governor made similar comments Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” saying the state was on track to have the mandate lifted.
In response to a reporter’s question on Tuesday, he said he wouldn’t delay the move by a week or two to mitigate the potential for a surge in cases stemming from the return of college students from spring break.
“I think I would be roundly and appropriately criticized if I backpedaled from the commitment that we made and the announcement that we made” on Feb. 26, Hutchinson said.
Instead, he said, college students should be tested for the virus if they traveled over the break and didn’t practice social distancing.
He said at the news conference that he would not allow cities to impose their own mask requirements.
He issued his clarification to the Democrat-Gazette later Tuesday, however, in response to a question about whether he would reinstate the option for cities to adopt a model ordinance on masks.
Hutchinson on July 3 issued an executive order allowing cities to issue such ordinances.
Less than two weeks later, the provisions of that order were superseded by one he issued enacting the statewide mandate.
At the news conference Tuesday, he said businesses and, most likely, schools will be able to have their own requirements and that the state will issue guidance on the matter.
“We’re getting a lot of questions from businesses: ‘How does this impact us if we want to keep the mask in our store? Well, that’s a prerogative of business, and so we want to make sure that what we do doesn’t impede important decisions that are made out there at the school level or within some businesses,” Hutchinson said.
Fayetteville in June adopted an ordinance directing businesses to require their customers to wear masks.
The same month, Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. issued an executive order requiring residents to wear masks in public places where it’s not possible to maintain 6 feet of distance from other people.
However, the order does not require people to wear masks “while driving in a motor vehicle, in a private business open to the public or as otherwise mandated by the governor of the state of Arkansas or the secretary of health.”
Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan said earlier this month that his city’s ordinance will stay in place “no matter what the governor does.”
Stephanie Jackson, a spokeswoman for Scott, said the Little Rock mayor’s order remains in effect.
“The City of Little Rock will continue its mask mandate at this time,” she said in an email.
Hutchinson has said that he supports the order and views it as a mere “exhortation” to wear a mask.
The Arkansas Municipal League will likely issue guidance to cities once the statewide mandate is lifted, John Wilkerson, the group’s general counsel, said.
“We’re very deferential to the governor and what he thinks is best for the state,” Wilkerson said.
DEMAND VARIES
Hutchinson last week started Phase 1-C of the state’s vaccination plan, making the shots available to people 1664 with health conditions putting them at risk of severe illness from the virus and to certain types of “essential workers,” including those with jobs in food service, transportation, the media and other industries.
The phase also includes prison and jail inmates and others living in “high-risk” settings, such as student housing and group homes.
Hutchinson said Tuesday that he wants to vaccinate a greater percentage of those eligible under Phase 1-C before making the shots available to the general public.
He said demand for the shots varies across the state.
“In northwest, some of the urban areas, it’s very difficult to get an appointment, and so we’ve still got a backlog there,” he said.
He also noted that the state has not yet vaccinated its prison inmates.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Cindy Murphy said the agency is working to finish vaccinating staff members before starting on the inmates.
“We’re preparing to survey inmates to see how many want the vaccine,” she said.
Hutchinson said the state has engaged in a “massive advertising campaign” encouraging people to get the shots and has asked employers to help.
Within state government, he said, he’s encouraged his Cabinet secretaries to have at least 70% of their staffs vaccinated.
Health Department spokeswoman Meg Mirivel said the state is spending about $650,000 in federal coronavirus relief funds on the advertising campaign for February and March.
It plans to spend an additional $7 million in federal funds on the effort over the next two years, she said.
Health Secretary Jose Romero said officials’ biggest concern is that some people are reluctant to get vaccinated or have become complacent as the number of infections has declined.
“We don’t wait until we have a measles outbreak to immunize the public, the children, for measles,” he said. “We don’t wait until the middle of flu season to begin vaccination for flu, so now is the time to push forward.”
DOSES PASS 1 MILLION
Hutchinson noted that, including booster shots, more than 1 million vaccine doses in Arkansas had been administered as of Tuesday.
That total includes doses administered by federal agencies, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs and Bureau of Prisons, that aren’t usually reported in the state’s numbers.
The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks and Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System announced earlier this month that they had begun offering the vaccines to all enrolled veterans.
Margie Scott, medical center director at the Central Arkansas system, said at the news conference that the two systems have vaccinated a total of more than 26,000 veterans and staff members.
In the Central Arkansas system, nearly 14,000 veterans have received at least one dose, including 6,500 who have been fully vaccinated, she said.
The shots are available at the John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital in Little Rock from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, with walk-ins allowed until 2:30 p.m.
The Eugene J. Towbin Veterans Affairs Medical Center in North Little Rock has a drive-thru vaccination clinic that operates from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week, she said.
The health system is also administering vaccinations at each of its community-based outpatient clinics at least once a week, she said.
“We want to make this vaccine available for all of our heroes in Arkansas,” she said.
DOSES REPORTED
According to the Health Department, providers participating in the vaccination effort coordinated by the state had received 1,527,220 doses as of Tuesday morning, up 68,670 from the total as of a day earlier.
The doses those providers reported having administered, including booster shots, rose by 14,387, to 874,294.
In addition, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS and Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network pharmacies had been allotted 229,580 doses through federal programs, up by 19,890 from the total as of a day earlier.
The doses those businesses reported having administered rose by 4,606, to 104,490.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 680,549 Arkansans, or about 22.6% of the state’s population, had received at least one vaccine dose as of Tuesday.
That included 349,951 people, or 11.6% of the population, who had been fully vaccinated.
Among the states and District of Columbia, Arkansas ranked 43rd in the percentage of its residents who had received at least one dose and 46th in the percentage who had been fully vaccinated.
Nationally, 25.3% of people had received at least one dose and 13.7% were fully vaccinated.
Hutchinson noted that, including booster shots, more than 1 million vaccine doses in Arkansas had been administered as of Tuesday. That total includes doses administered by federal agencies, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs and Bureau of Prisons, that aren’t usually reported in the state’s numbers.
RESEARCHERS’ WARNING
In updated projections released Tuesday, researchers with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health warned that the spread of the virus in Arkansas has been similar to what’s happened in the rest of the country and that cases in some parts of the country are trending upward.
“If this virus has taught us anything, it is that letting our guard down has consequences,” the researchers wrote.
“Students gathering together to celebrate spring break will have consequences. Opening places, such as restaurants and movie theaters, for the public to gather without restrictions will have consequences. Refusing to wear masks or a slow roll out of vaccines to larger numbers of Arkansans will have consequences. The virus is not operating on our timetable.”
The researchers also expressed urgency about the need to vaccinate as many people as possible.
“As we bring COVID-19 under control among older adults through vaccination, we must change our focus to aggressively vaccinating Arkansans, especially those between 16 and 38,” the researchers wrote.
“Leaving younger Arkansans unvaccinated runs the risk of leaving a continuing reservoir of COVID-19, especially variants, and reigniting the pandemic among older unvaccinated age groups.”
They predicted that from March 15 to May 15, an additional 1,248 Arkansans will be hospitalized with the virus, with the state’s death toll rising by 357, to 5,850.
FEWER IN HOSPITALS
The number of people hospitalized with covid-19 in the state fell Tuesday by 11, to 173.
That included 40 patients who were on ventilators, down from 42 a day earlier.
The cases added to the state’s tallies included 119 that were confirmed through polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests.
The other 120 were “probable” cases, which include those identified through less-sensitive antigen tests.
The cumulative count of cases rose to 328,946.
That comprised 258,383 confirmed cases and 70,563 probable ones.
The number of cases that were considered active fell by 69, to 2,263, as recoveries outpaced new cases.
Benton County had the largest number of new cases, 36, followed by Pulaski County, which had 28; Marion and Washington counties, which each had 16; Baxter County, which had 13; and Saline and White counties, which each had 11.
The Health Department didn’t report any increase in the number of cases among prison and jail inmates.
Murphy said the Corrections Department didn’t have any new cases among inmates on Tuesday.
The state’s death toll rose by five, to 4,433, among confirmed cases and fell by two, to 1,114 among probable cases, apparently reflecting cases that had been reclassified.
Among nursing home and assisted living facility residents, the state’s count of virus deaths rose by four, to 2,053.
The number of people who have ever been hospitalized in the state with covid-19 grew by 21, to 15,236.
The number of the state’s virus patients who have ever been on a ventilator rose by six, to 1,569.