Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday urged unvaccinated Arkansans to get shots as a way of preparing for a potential wave of infections caused by the fast-spreading omicron variant, but he ruled out measures such as reimposing a statewide mask mandate.
He said he didn't see a need to declare a public health emergency such as the one that was in place for two months during the summer surge caused by the delta variant.
"In reference to mandates or stopping businesses, that's absolutely off the table," Hutchinson said. "We're open. It's important for our children to go to school. It's important for our businesses to not be interrupted. They know how we can protect ourselves. They have the ability to make decisions for the health of their workplace."
He said he's preparing to take steps to increase the state's hospital capacity, as he did last winter and during the summer, but hopes that won't be necessary.
"The risk is that we are in the bottom 10 of states in terms of our vaccination rate, so the national prognosticators say that's a problem because that means 49% of our population is not fully vaccinated, and that's a lot of room for omicron to work," Hutchinson said.
If more Arkansans don't get vaccinated, "it could mean in January or February we could have a hospital capacity issue," he said.
"We will be prepared for it in the event we have to expand hospital space," Hutchinson said. "We expanded hospital space last winter at the peak times, and we'll be prepared to do it again if we have to.
"We don't want to do that because it costs a lot of money, but if we have to we will."
As of Tuesday, a case of omicron announced Friday was still the only confirmed one in the state.
The actual number of cases caused by the variant, however, is unknown because only a portion of specimens from positive tests are sequenced to determine which strain caused the infection, and it can take weeks to get the results.
According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates released Monday, omicron accounted for more than 73% of cases in the United States last week, including more than 92% of the cases in a region encompassing Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Initial reports have suggested omicron is more transmissible than the delta variant, which had previously been dominant, and is better able to penetrate the immunity generated by previous infections and vaccinations.
Studies have found that vaccines are still effective in preventing severe illness from omicron, however, and that a booster shot for those who are fully vaccinated reduces the risk of infection.
During his weekly news conference at the state Capitol, Hutchinson noted that the CDC's estimate of omicron's prevalence "was not particularly directed at Arkansas," where he said the proportion of new cases caused by the variant is likely less than 92%.
"Regardless of whether the current estimate is precise, it is clear that omicron is in our state," he added. "It is spreading rapidly, and it will define our prevention efforts for the coming months."
He said he met earlier in the day with his "COVID-19 winter task force," made up of hospital executives, Health Department officials and others, "to prepare for the future and to start the steps necessary in the event we have to expand" hospital capacity.
"We should have a good Christmas based upon the adequate hospital space that we have," Hutchinson said. "It also gives us a window of opportunity to act before omicron reaches its peak in Arkansas."
He noted that, while 62% of Arkansans have received at least one vaccine dose, less than 51% are fully vaccinated and only about 14% have received booster doses.
"We want to increase our vaccination, our booster shots, so that come January we don't run into a hospital shortage, staffing shortages, and that we are able to make sure that we have adequate coverage for those that are sick because of this," Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said he had also "challenged the Department of Health" to come up with a plan to increase the availability of at-home COVID-19 tests, but "supply chain issues" were an obstacle.
"The acquisition of sufficient quantity of those athome tests is a problem, and then of course you have the cost issue as well," Hutchinson said.
He said a federal initiative, announced by President Joe Biden on Tuesday, to distribute 500 million rapid tests to the public for free will further reduce the supply available for a state-run effort.
County spikes
Health Secretary Jose Romero said the omicron variant was likely behind a spike of 116 new cases Tuesday in Craighead County, the most of any county in the state.
About 80% of the cases were in Jonesboro, and about half were among people age 25-44. Infections among people under 18 made up another 19%, he said.
"Those are the groups that not taking up the vaccine," Romero said.
Like Hutchinson, he urged Arkansans to get their shots now.
"The tsunami of omicron is coming," he said.
Statewide, he said about 75% of Arkansans age 65 and older have been fully vaccinated and 52% have received booster doses, but the rates are lower for younger groups.
Among Arkansans age 1924, for instance, about 44% are fully vaccinated and less than 9% have received booster doses.
People who are fully vaccinated "still are forming part of the group that are being hospitalized, so we want that group to get the third dose, that booster dose," Romero said.
He said vaccine uptake among children age 5-11, who became eligible for a low-dose version of the Pfizer vaccine last month, has been "very slow," with about 14% of children in that age group having received at least one dose and 7% fully vaccinated.
With Arkansas Children's Hospital and Arkansas Children's Northwest in Springdale being the only two pediatric hospitals in the state, "we can easily, more so than even the adult population, overwhelm the pediatric supply or pediatric capacity in the state if we don't get these kids vaccinated," Romero said.
For gatherings over the holidays, he recommended people wear masks, limit those in attendance to family members, ideally those who are vaccinated, and get tested for COVID-19 before traveling.
"Make sure you're not bringing not only just your dish to the get-together, but you're not bringing covid to the get-together," Romero said.
Hutchinson also said at the news conference that retired Arkansas Air National Guard Col. Robert Ator, who has coordinated Arkansas' vaccine distribution, will be going back to his job as director of military affairs for the state Department of Commerce.
Lt. Col. Eric Kremers, deputy state surgeon for the Arkansas National Guard, who has been helping Ator with the effort, will take over Ator's duties at the Health Department, Hutchinson said.
Pediatric patients
Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock had five patients with confirmed coronavirus Tuesday, said Dr. Rick Barr, executive vice president and chief clinical and academic officer at Arkansas Children's.
Noting that a vaccine is not yet available for children younger than 5, he said he expects to see more kids testing positive, although whether omicron will affect children as severely as the delta variant is unknown.
"We know it's going to spread rapidly," Barr said of omicron.
"We know that kids are going to be infected. We just don't know if that's going to drive ER visits and hospitalization, yet."
Dr. Gerry Jones, chief medical officer for CHI St. Vincent Infirmary in Little Rock, said he feels like the hospital is ready for another potential coronavirus surge. But he said that CHI St. Vincent Infirmary, like many hospitals across the country, is experiencing challenges when it comes to having enough nursing staff.
Compared with before the pandemic, they are using more traveling contract nurses now to help offset open positions, he said.
He said he would encourage anyone who has previously been infected with the coronavirus to get vaccinated and to receive a booster shot when they are eligible.
He said the hospital is also strongly encouraging the staff to get booster shots.
There's no guarantee that the natural immunity obtained through an infection from the delta variant will be good protection against omicron, he said.
In Jonesboro, St. Bernards Medical Center isn't making any major operational shifts in response to the new variant, spokesman Mitchell Nail said Tuesday.
"We're confident in our ability to be able to handle omicron," he said.
"For us, the main thing right now is encouraging people to get vaccinated."
The hospital, he said, has been operating at around 90% capacity or higher for the past few months.
The hospital had 45-50 coronavirus patients, more than a dozen of which were in an intensive care unit, Nail said Tuesday.
Mandate challenged
Meanwhile, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said Tuesday that she had signed onto a lawsuit challenging requirements for Head Start teachers, staffers and volunteers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus and for children ages 2 and older to wear masks.
"President Joe Biden continues his federal overreach and this time he's reaching into classrooms across Arkansas," Rutledge said in a news release.
"Requiring vaccines for every volunteer and teacher, and masks for two-year-old children is gross federal overreach."
According to the release, the program provides educational and related services to low-income families of preschool-age children.
Arkansas has 177 Head Start locations for children ages 3-5 years old and 130 Early Head Start locations for children from infant to 3 years old, Rutledge said in the release.
The lawsuit was filed by 23 state attorneys general Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Monroe, La.
Forecast released
In their latest forecast report, released Tuesday, researchers with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health said omicron "has the potential to create a significant crisis for the state's hospital and emergency response systems," as well as the state's economy.
In the United Kingdom, where omicron is dominant, COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations have reached record levels, the researchers noted.
They said they have often used the country as a bellwether for Arkansas.
"If the bellwether proves good, we should expect another substantial surge in the state beginning in mid-January or early February driven by both the Delta and Omicron variants," the researchers wrote.
"As Omicron becomes dominant, hospitalizations will begin to surge, as well, perhaps beyond levels we have previously seen."
They said vaccines and boosters are crucial to avoiding infection and serious illness.