Recreational travelers will now be allowed to come to Arkansas – under specific circumstances.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced that out-of-state recreational travelers will be allowed to visit Arkansas as long as they are not coming from COVID-19 hot spots.
“Today, the restriction for recreational travelers, which has been previously prohibited for out-of-state recreational travelers – that restriction is lifted for non-hot spot states from across the country,” he said
Hutchinson listed the current hot spots as the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and the city of New Orleans.
Arkansas Department of Health Secretary Dr. Nate Smith said that state officials will be reevaluating the hot spot status, most likely using a coronavirus map from Johns Hopkins University to assess where the greatest numbers of infection are. He admitted that this will “not be an exact science” but will be based on risk assessment and risk management.
“What we’re really concerned about is people who maybe are coming from those areas who are infected but maybe not symptomatic yet. So, they can pass on COVID-19 without even know about it. Or they may arrive here and then develop symptoms. Those are things we would like to avoid,” Smith said.
However, Smith called Arkansas “kind of an island of lower risks,” and said that the state should be prepared to welcome visitors from nearby states.
“It’s important that we welcome our neighbors from other states, but we also need to protect our people here from increased risk of exposure from people traveling from places where it is a higher risk,” he said.
Based on the executive order, the Arkansas Department of Health Secretary will have the authority to re-determine where the hot spots are. By directive, Dr. Nate Smith will be able to “toggle or change” the hot spot definition based on new developments, according to Hutchinson.
“If you return from a hot spot anywhere in the country to Arkansas or if you want to visit here from a hot spot, you are expected to self-quarantine for 14 days. That will obviously will limit those that might be expecting to come here from those areas,” Hutchinson said.
Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism Secretary Stacy Hurst said that her department will be changing its visitor policies to reflect the new statewide travel policy. “We’ll also change our state parks lodging approach that we announced previously and we will incorporate this new directive and allow, as appropriate, for out-of-state travelers to come to state parks for overnight visits,” she said.
According to Hurst, this new policy will heavily impact the state’s travel and lodging industry. The American Hotel & Lodging Association reports that hotels across the United States have lost more than $18 billion in revenue since mid-February as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. The association estimates that 8,807 direct hotel-related jobs lost and 21,640 jobs that support the hotel industry have been lost as a result of COVID-19.
“The lifting of restrictions on out-of-state travelers coming into Arkansas will be welcome news for the hotel and lodging industry. It’s an industry within the state and nation that’s been particularly hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Hurst said.
On March 31, Hutchinson first publicly announced his intention to prohibit out-of-state recreational travelers from coming to Arkansas, in order to limit the spread of COVID-19. At the time, he said that out-of-state recreational travelers were not following social distancing guidelines at state parks.
An official state directive was issued on April 4, ordering hotels, motels and other short-term lodging facilities to refuse occupancy to recreational out-of-state travelers until further notice. However, these facilities were still allowed to provide lodging to healthcare professionals, first responders, law enforcement, state and federal employees on official business, National Guard members on active duty, airline crew members, and journalists from out of state.
“Our design is not to add more areas as hot spots. I hope that we won’t have to because if you look at the national trends, most of the cases are flat. Most of the states are flat or declining. I’m hopeful that if our nation stays on the right trajectory, we’ll be taking states off the hot spots instead of adding them,” he said.
READ MORE: Hutchinson Issues Guidance for Places of Worship, Directives for Indoor/Outdoor Venues