Five new COVID-19 cases were reported at Courtyard Healthcare and Rehabilitation over the weekend, according to the Arkansas Department of Health, and an additional eight were reported Tuesday. One resident reportedly died between Sunday and Tuesday, as well.
Community Living Arrangements is also now reporting 12 cases among residents and staff.
According to the ADH, 34 resident cases and 11 staff cases had been reported at Courtyard by Sunday, May 24. At that time, Courtyard was not reporting any resident deaths. An update on COVID-19 cases provided by the ADH Tuesday afternoon added eight additional cases, seven in workers and one in the resident population, along with one resident death.
In all, 53 cases have been reported at Courtyard, 35 in residents and 18 in staff members.
Community Living Arrangements has also reported 12 cases, nine in residents and three in staff members. The nonprofit provides opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities to live in the community with varying levels of independence, administrator Grady Tracy said.
“We’ve been quarantined since the end of March,” Tracy said Tuesday afternoon. “Everybody that we’ve had so far has been non-symptomatic, no problems, no signs, just there with it. Last Saturday, we gave everybody tests and it came back that we had a few in our homes with COVID-19, so we combined them into one facility.”
Eight of the facility’s nine residents who have tested positive are currently isolated in one group home, along with an asympotmatic staff member who has tested positive that volunteered to quarantine with the residents until they are all considered recovered. The ninth resident who has tested positive is isolated in one of the nonprofit’s sites on their own because, due to medical conditions, they were not able to be confined to one room, Tracy said. An asymptomatic staff member is also quarantined with that individual.
“This last round, we tested everybody and we went ahead and quarantined all staff, all the staff that volunteered to quarantine at the homes so we wouldn’t have to switch out the staff; we have two staff at each site that’s quarantining at each home,” Tracy said, noting that Community Living Arrangements administrates six different residential facilities in El Dorado. “This Wednesday will be one week since the 14-day quarantine began.”
The organization continues to provide daily meals to residents, as well as grab and go and delivery meals for seniors through Champagnolle Landing Wellness Center, which they also administrate. Tracy said prior to the pandemic, about 60 seniors were signed up for weekly meal deliveries; since March, that number has grown to 200.
“Our kitchen staff has done a tremendous job, because not only do they provide for the seniors, they provide the lunch meals for our group homes Monday through Friday. You couldn’t ask for better staff at the kitchen level, and our drivers every day,” Tracy said.
Union County had reported two new positive COVID-19 cases by 6 p.m. Tuesday, according to the ADH, bringing the county to 162 cumulative cases. Of those, 59 are considered active. Six local residents have died as a result of COVID-19, while 97 have reportedly recovered.
A total of 882 tests had returned negative in Union County by Tuesday evening, according to the ADH, indicating an approximate local positivity rate of 15.5%. Dr. Nate Smith, ADH Secretary, has said that there are often wait times between tests being performed and results being returned, so the county has likely tested more than the 1,044 people whose results have been reported back to the ADH.
Smith announced at a state health update Tuesday that he would be leaving his position at the ADH in August; he has taken a position with the United States Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Smith has served at the ADH since 2013 and has been a top advisor to Gov. Asa Hutchinson throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Working for the governor has been one of the highlights of my career, and it made it very difficult to make this decision,” Smith said.
Dr. Jose Romero, chief of pediatric infectious disease for Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine, will take on Smith’s role in an interim capacity after Smith’s last day Aug. 28. Romero has been recognized by the CDC for his work promoting childhood immunizations.
The Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC) also announced Tuesday that they would be distributing more than $115 million in grant aid to small businesses in the state. The money is designated to help businesses with the costs of adhering to COVID-19 regulations and guidance, like sanitizing requirements and personal protective equipment (PPE) provision for employees. Over 10,000 grants were approved through the program, which is funded by federal coronavirus relief funds.
Statewide, cases grew by 151 between Monday and Tuesday, bringing Arkansas’s cumulative COVID-19 cases to 6,180. Of those, 4,332 are reportedly recovered. Two more Arkansans died as a result of COVID-19 in the same time period, bringing the state’s death toll to 119, which indicates a state mortality rate of 1.92%.
Hutchinson said Tuesday the state had a positivity rate of about 3.3%. Testing has expanded measurably this month, with over 60,000 tests having been performed in May and over 2% of the state’s population having been tested by Tuesday afternoon; in all, over 115,000 tests have been performed statewide. Hutchinson has set a goal to test every nursing home resident and worker in the state in June.
According to the ADH, 1,679,419 COVID-19 cases had been reported in the United States by Tuesday evening. Of those, 384,902 are considered recovered; 98,852 Americans have died as a result of COVID-19, indicating a national mortality rate of 5.88%.
The World Health Organization reported 5,406,282 COVID-19 cases worldwide Tuesday evening; of those, 343,562 have died, indicating a global mortality rate of 6.35%.
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