State officials are eyeing a Phase II reopening, but it may be a regional approach instead of a full state-wide reopening.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson told reporters on Thursday, June 4 that he was looking at the possibility of specific regions in Arkansas reopening for Phase II at different times. However, he said the decision has not been finalized and is expected to be announced next week.
Business leaders, he said, have repeatedly asked when the state will be moving toward the Phase II reopening. Arkansas officially entered Phase I of President Donald Trump’s Open Up America Again plan on May 4.
“For of all, we’re all opened up, but we do have a desire to lift some of the restrictions, particularly in the restaurants that want to be able do more business and have an economic pattern that works for their industry,” he said. “Phase II is for states and regions with no evidence of a rebound and that satisfy the gating criteria a second time.”
In recent days, Arkansas has seen multiple days with high levels of new COVID-19 cases. On Tuesday, June 2, officials reported the state’s highest single-day increase of community cases to date with 375. The following day, Hutchinson announced the number of new cases had dropped to 249, but the single-day numbers were back up on Thursday with 358 cases. This brings the total cumulative cases in Arkansas, as of Thursday, June 4, to 8,425.
However, Hutchinson insisted the increased number of cases is not evidence of a rebound but of increased testing. He attributed the rise in the reported cases to increased testing efforts. When discussing Northwest Arkansas, which had 65.4 percent of the new cases for Thursday, he said the Northwest Arkansas region was experiencing its first peak, compared to the rest of the state. Other parts of the state, he said, experienced that peak in April
“Here again, has there been a rebound or is it simply that we have been testing more? I believe that in Northwest Arkansas there is actually not the rebound but the first peak – the first hill that we’re going up there in the increase in case both because of the spread but also because of the increased testing that we have,” he said.
Both Hutchinson and Arkansas Department of Health Secretary Dr. Nate Smith highlighted the differences in COVID-19 infection during the Thursday press conference. Based on the information gathered, there are multiple trend lines for COVID-19 infection, in Hutchinson’s reckoning.
Graphs presented during the conference broke the state into five regions: Central, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest. Looking at one graph, Hutchinson told reporters that the Southeast region had two peaks – or trend lines. “As Dr. Smith has said before, we really have seven different trend lines in Arkansas. We have seven different epidemics in Arkansas that are coming and going at different points,” he said.
“We’re going to continue to look at this by region, recognizing that we have different epidemics and different time frames in Arkansas. While we’ve kept our state together, and there’s a lot of wisdom in that, we want to make sure that we’re looking at the regions separately and giving good counsel and advice in each of those regions as we fight this virus,” he said.
“Once you go into a new phase, it’s hard to roll it back. We just want to be careful and make the right judgement on there. But that’s something that we’re looking at and we’ll make the decision on that next week,” he said.
Hutchinson was asked why he seemingly reversed his stance on taking a regional approach to reopening. Before, Hutchinson had insisted on keeping the state on the same reopening schedule. He pointed out that Northwest Arkansas leaders had requested that he reopen the area when it had fewer cases and now it has seen a surge in cases.
“Once you go into a new phase, it’s hard to roll it back. We just want to be careful and make the right judgement on there. But that’s something that we’re looking at and we’ll make the decision on that next week,” he said.
However, he framed the regional approach as a likely necessity.
“We want to get to Phase II. It’s important to get there. We’re not ready to go there yet as a state, but it requires us to ask the question under these gating criteria, ‘Have other areas – certain regions of our state – met that criteria?’ While we stay together, I think you have to ask the question at some point, ‘Do we want to release one region to go to Phase 2?’”
While officials have used Trump’s Open Up America Again plan for a state-wide approach, Hutchinson said the plan gives them latitude to take a segmented approach based on the number of cases and circumstances in given regions.
“I’m getting the impression that a lot of America is not paying a whole lot of attention to the original criteria through Phase I and II. They’re making the decisions based upon a lot of local factors and regional factors, and that’s exactly what it says, is that state and local officials may need to tailor the application of these criteria to local circumstances and regional areas of the state. That is important to remember because sometimes it’s decided that these are locked in. They recognize that these criteria are guidelines that we have to adapt to Arkansas and where we are and when we can enter the next phase.
“The other important point is that we satisfy the downward trajectory of flu-like symptoms, downward trajectory of COVID-like symptoms. Our trajectory of cases for 14 days is clearly not downward statewide. It is by some regions. The other is downward trajectory of positive tests as percent of total tests. Now, a flat line is good enough for me if we maintain a consistent level of low numbers below the standards for our positivity rate. That’s a good sign and, I think that’s an indication that we’re going in the right direction,” he said.
When asked how the state would enforce a regional Phase 2 reopening, Hutchinson declined to comment on the possible details. “Stay tuned. There’ll be more on that later if we make that judgement. I don’t want to get into any more details on that possibility because that might not happen. It’s just something when you look at the different trend lines, I think an honest evaluation says you’ve got to at least consider that. We want to look at the numbers more, and we’ll make a decision next week, but until then, I’m not going to speculate on how that will operate in detail,” he said.
Under Phase II, all vulnerable individuals are encouraged to remain sheltering in place, and all individuals should maximize physical distance when in public.
Businesses are encouraged to utilize teleworking when possible in Phase II and to continue to close common areas where personnel are likely to congregate. However, non-essential travel is permitted to resume.
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