Credit Governor s Office / YouTube
Effective immediately, Arkansas is lifting nearly all restrictions on businesses related to the coronavirus pandemic. Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Friday that all capacity limits on businesses and large gatherings will only be recommendations, and not enforceable by law.
Speaking in a news conference at the state Capitol, Hutchinson said the goal is to give businesses more flexibility to tailor public health guidelines to better fit with their day-to-day operations. They are incentivized to follow the guidelines because that gives them business liability protection, because the business liability protection is based upon following public health guidelines and making a good faith effort to make sure everyone is safe in their employment, Hutchinson said. And so it does not mean a change in behavior that you will see.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences COVID-19 modeling update suggests virus variants could result in more hospitalizations and deaths. Arkansas
Hear KUAR s live broadcast of Tuesday s press briefing by Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson shows a graph during Tuesday s press conference indicating a downward trend Arkansas has seen in recent days.
Credit Governor s Office / YouTube
On a day U.S. COVID-19 deaths topped 400,000, new confirmed and probable cases in Arkansas continued a downward trend with 1,331 cases reported Tuesday, well below the 3,209 reported the previous Tuesday.
The Arkansas Department of Health also reported that confirmed and active cases fell by 1,854 to 20,940. Unfortunately, deaths rose by 43 to 4,386. The ADH also reported 50 available ICU beds as of 2 p.m. Tuesday, down from 57 on Monday.
Hear KUAR s live broadcast of Tuesday s press briefing by Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson shows a report detailing plans for vaccinating Arkansans while Col. Robert Ator, who will serve as project manager, looks on.
Credit Governor s Office / YouTube
Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday said the state will accelerate vaccine availability for older Arkansans and those in education. The updated vaccine push comes as University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences modeling predicts more than 5,000 COVID-19 deaths by Feb. 28.
The Arkansas Department of Health reported that 8,653 more Arkansans received a vaccine shot in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 89,449, which is 39.3% of the number of vaccines that have been sent to Arkansas since Dec. 14 for the state’s distribution plan. Vaccines delivered to the state since Dec. 28 for the federal program to target nursing home residents and staff totals 24,700, with just 3,884 people – or 15.7% – receiving a vaccine.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson speaking to reporters during Tuesday s press briefing.
Credit Governor s Office / YouTube
Arkansas hospitals continue struggling to handle a growing number of people needing treatment for COVID-19. On Tuesday the state reported 27 additional hospitalizations, pushing the total to another record high of 1,323.
There were also 36 more deaths for a total of 3,836. The Department of Health reported 27 of the deaths were confirmed to be from the disease caused by the coronavirus, while nine were probable deaths. There were also 4,107 new cases of people testing positive for the virus, while the number of active cases rose by 1,351 to a new record of 24,408.