Although most businesses have been able to resume operations at a limited capacity as Gov. Asa Hutchinson launched the Phase I reopening the state’s economy on May 4, they may have to wait longer for Phase II to expand operations.
Before proceeding to Phase II, states should satisfy the gating criteria a second time which means a downward trajectory of influenza-like illnesses, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations within a 14-day period. May 18 would be the earliest the state could move forward with phase two.
Thursday, May 14, though, marks the second day with an increase in the number of community COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. When asked about phase two of reopening the state, Hutchinson told reporters “we are not in a position to predict when that might happen.”
“Obviously, when you see two days in increases in cases and two days in increases in hospitalizations, that causes you to pause and make sure to remind everyone to be careful, not to take this for granted and not just to assume that we are going to be at Phase II in 14 days because we got a lot of work to still do,” he said.
“This is not encouraging for a quick movement into phase two, but we will evaluate it a little bit on Monday. We are not prepared to go into phase two next Monday, so in that sense it does delay us. As to what day it will be, we just have to wait and see.”
State officials will be closely monitoring COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations over the next few days to see if it’s an “uptick that we start going back to the trend in the right direction or if this is a pattern that we need to watch more.”
According to the White House’ “Open Up America Again” guidelines, Phase II will allow schools and organized youth activities to resume and bars to operate with diminished standing-room occupancy. They are currently closed under phase one.
However, Hutchinson is expected to make an announcement about when bars can reopen on next Monday, May 18 and when summer camps and team sports will be allowed to operate on May 20.
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