Speaking to a group of journalists assembled in the State Capitol’s conference room as well as a virtual audience, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced the creation of the Governor’s COVID-19 Winter Task Force.
Hutchinson has created the task force by executive order in order to address issues facing Arkansas hospitals in the coming winter months. According to Hutchinson, a primary concern will be to focus on hospital capacity – from hospital beds, staffing issues and more.
“One of the major focal points of this task force will be to look at our hospital capacity, what work can be done to manage that capacity…and what relief the state can provide in terms of support for the hospitals and the staff,” he said.
The issue of hospital capacity has increased in significance in the wake of increasing hospitalization rates throughout the states. In recent days, Arkansas has seen it record number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19. Hutchinson informed the audience that he had seen the Arkansas Department of Health’s preliminary report on Friday, which showed 2,312 new confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases and 826 total hospitalizations – both record numbers.
Hutchinson also pointed out that the winter months could pose additional challenges for managing COVID-19 as hospitals face more non-COVID cases.
“This is the result of the fact that the winter months pose particular challenges for use. We have our hospitalization rates that are going up. We have our case loads that are going up, not just in Arkansas but nationally. And the critical link is our hospitals,” he said.
Assembling health care leaders from around the state, Hutchinson is charging them with developing solutions to a range of challenges, including how to better coordinate the statewide case load, how to increase hospital resources and how to manage compliance with mask mandates.
He noted that there has been significant regional coordination for COVID-19 management but that this coordination needed to expand to a statewide level.
Arkansas Surgeon General Greg Bledsoe will serve as the vice chairman for the task force. Arkansas Department of Health Secretary Jose Romero will serve on the task force, along with UAMS chancellor Cam Patterson, St. Bernards Healthcare CEO Chris Barber, Washington Regional Medical System CEO Larry Shackleford, Medical Center of South Arkansas CEO Scott Street, Baptist Health CEO Troy Wells, Arkansas Department of Emergency Services director AJ Gary, state epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha, Arkansas Health Care Association executive director Rachel Bunch and others.
Hutchinson said that more individuals could be added at a later date to bolster the task force.
The first meeting of the task force will be held Monday, Nov. 16 at 8 a.m. via Zoom. The meeting will not be open to the public but will be a private consultation between the task force members and Hutchinson.
The full list of task force members is listed below: