Gov. Asa Hutchinson resumed his daily updates regarding the state’s response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic yesterday, speaking to the press with Arkansas Department of Health Secretary Dr. Nate Smith.
After taking a break from the daily briefings for the Easter holiday weekend, the officials met with members of the press at the State Capitol Monday afternoon.
Smith announced that the ADH will soon release guidance that will close summer camps for the time being. He said camps have the potential to become breeding grounds for continued community spread of the novel coronavirus.
“Although there’s a big difference between summer camp and a maximum security unit, to the COVID-19 virus, there’s not that much of a difference,” Smith said, referencing a sharp uptick in positive cases at two prisons in Arkansas over the weekend.
“You’re bringing together people from all over the country, putting them in a highly congregate setting for a week or so and then sending them back,” he continued. “Even if we’re on the downside of cases at that point, that’s a high risk setting for a resurgence.”
He did not say when the guidance would be released or for how long he believed it might apply. He said that he, like other Arkansas residents, hopes to get back to normal sooner rather than later.
“With many of these summer camps, they start bringing together the people who are going to work there in early May, so bringing a bunch of college kids or whoever from different parts of the country, living together in the same types of barracks settings as they’re preparing for campers, that itself is a risk,” Smith said. “I would hope that we’ll eventually be to a point where we can safely do that, but the COVID-19 virus is not exactly on my timetable.”
He noted the state also has ongoing public health directives on recreational sports, which prohibit school athletics from practicing or competing through the end of the school year, close all gyms and recreational exercise or activity facilities and cancel any public sporting events for the duration of the order.
Hutchinson also noted that daycares have remained open in support of essential workers who are not able to care for their children during their work hours.
“Daycares can continue to operate. Obviously, they need to do their distancing and have their health protocols in place, Hutchinson said. “They’re so important for our health care workers, emergency responders and essential services on down the line. It’s probably even a greater hardship during the summer, so we hope that they will be able to stay in place.”
Hutchinson also addressed the state’s directive against elective medical procedures, which includes putting a stop to surgical abortions. Last week, Smith said the state had sent Little Rock Family Planning Services, the only surgical abortion provider in the state, a cease and desist letter after receiving complaints that the clinic was continuing to provide surgical abortions, including to out-of-state residents.
The clinic is seeking relief from the courts on the abortion ban by suing the state. The clinic is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, a nonprofit founded “to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and the law of the United States,” according to their mission statement.
Hutchinson said the state distinguished between surgical and medication abortions, the latter of which may continue under the health directive because it does not require a surgical procedure.
Medication abortions can typically be provided up to 11 weeks into a pregnancy. While Arkansas outlaws abortions after 20 weeks of a pregnancy, with some exceptions, the majority of abortions performed in the state are surgical, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
“It’s not unexpected, but in terms of our actions, we took the same action toward this clinic as we would any other clinic that was violating a directive in terms of not engaging in elective surgical procedures,” Hutchinson said. “They chose to take it to court. We’ll see what the court says on that.”
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said Friday she would defend the state against any legal challenges resulting from the state’s halt on surgical abortions.
A federal court issued a preliminary injunction Sunday preventing the state of Alabama from limiting or preventing abortion care through health directives aimed at addressing the ongoing pandemic, noting that abortions are not a medical procedure that can be postponed indefinitely.
Hutchinson also addressed comments made by President Donald Trump last week and yesterday where the president claimed he can supersede governors’ authority when it comes to “re-opening” the American economy. Trump stated on Twitter Monday that the premise that governors, not the federal government, have the power to “re-open” their state’s’ economies, such as by allowing businesses currently deemed nonessential to resume operations, is “incorrect.”
“We all want to move in the same direction in terms of winning this fight and getting back to normal activities, but ultimately, the federal government has not declared the scope,” Hutchinson said. “They’ve relied upon the states to manage this crisis … They’ve allowed us to use our discretion in terms of exactly the protective and safety measures that should be in place, and we’ve utilized that. That’s just simply a prerogative and a way things should work in terms of the states having the flexibility to manage it and I expect that to continue.”
While the president does have the Constitutional authority to regulate interstate and international commerce, it is unclear that he would have the power to overrule public health measures put into place by state governments, particularly since he has left so much of the pandemic response, from supply procurement to public health measures, in states’ hands.
Hutchinson echoed Smith, reiterating that everyone hopes to get back to normal soon.
On Sunday, Hutchinson shared a photo of Arkansas National Guard members unloading what he said was six full trucks of personal protective equipment (PPE), including masks, gloves and gowns. He thanked the Guard, the Arkansas Dept. of Emergency Management and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences procurement team for their work in securing the PPE.
Smith said yesterday the state is working to develop contact tracing capabilities to better track where, how and why positive cases crop up; however, the ADH’s current focus is on testing individuals residing in congregate living settings. He said the United States Centers for Disease Control has pledged to supplement the state’s tracing efforts “understanding that contact tracing and case follow-up are just as important on the downside of this curve as they are on the upside”
“We’ve continued to grow our team. … We continue to train and expand our capacity and we’ll continue to do that,” Smith said.