Vaccine eligibility expanded to all in 1-B

There were nine new COVID-19 cases reported Monday in Union County, bringing the cumulative total of cases identified locally to 3,786, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.

Six of the new cases were confirmed cases, determined by positive PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, of which 2,867 have been identified locally. Probable cases made up three of the new ones reported Monday; they are determined by positive antigen (rapid) tests and 919 have been identified in the county.

Active cases grew by two Monday to reach 47; they represented 1.2% of all the cases identified locally and included 39 confirmed cases and eight probable cases. There were 3,638 Union County residents considered recovered from the virus Monday, up seven from Sunday.

In the Southwest hospital region of the state, where Union County sits, 82,988 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered by Monday; 13.4% of residents in the region had been fully vaccinated against the virus, and 7.4% had at least gotten their first vaccine dose.

There were 43 people hospitalized Monday in the Southwest hospital region, including 23 in intensive care units and nine on ventilator support.

No new local deaths caused by the virus were reported Monday. A total of 101 Union County residents have died as a result of the virus.

The ADH reported 101 new negative COVID-19 test results returned from Union County Monday. In total, 30,395 results have returned from the county, including 26,609 negatives, indicating an overall local positivity rate of 12.5%.

Arkansas added 133 new COVID-19 cases Monday to its cumulative total, which reached 324,951. The cases in the state included 255,836 confirmed cases, up 110 from Sunday, and 69,115 probable cases, up 23 from Sunday.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson held a press conference Monday morning where he announced that everyone in vaccine eligibility category 1-B would be eligible for vaccination immediately.

The announcement adds about 180,000 Arkansans to the vaccination eligibility rolls, he said, and will help to achieve his goal of having everyone in category 1-B vaccinated by the end of the month.

“Over the weekend, we had some great mass clinics … and we noticed that we did not have the demand that we anticipated, which indicates that either people are getting the vaccinations in different places, we’re getting more of them covered; but, it also could simply indicate that there’s some resistance to the vaccines,” Hutchinson said. “We have to keep the demand for the vaccines up. We have to keep the lines full, because people want access to those vaccines and we want to make sure we get them out as fast as we can.”

Additionally, people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, who were originally included in vaccine eligibility category 1-C, will also now be eligible for vaccination, Hutchinson announced.

“They’re a very vulnerable population that is susceptible to the virus and we want to have them covered,” he said. “It’s a small number (of people), relatively speaking, and we’ve already vaccinated many of them because they are housed in a facility for (people with) intellectual or developmental disabilities.”

The governor also announced that the ADH now has a call center that can assist Arkansans in finding a vaccine provider or scheduling an appointment at a mass vaccination clinic. The toll free number to call for assistance is 1-800-985-6030.

Mass vaccination clinics are scheduled in each public health region of Arkansas this week and next.

In the Southwest region, on March 12, one such clinic will be held at the Fordyce Civic Center, 300 Highway 79-167 Bypass, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; a second clinic in the Southwest region is scheduled for March 18 at the Ouachita County Local Health Unit, 740 California Avenue in Camden, from 8 a.m. to noon.

“Today, you can call that number and get assistance you need. There will be translation services available and they can schedule appointments for a Department of Health vaccination clinic,” Hutchinson said. “If you’re looking to go to your local pharmacy to get a vaccination or to another clinic that’s out there, we can help guide you to the right one, but you’ll still have to make the call and make that appointment. We can give you the list and we can help navigate you to the right provider to make that appointment.”

Once someone is vaccinated, if they have added their name to multiple vaccination waiting lists, they should call the provider who did not administer their vaccine to remove their name from the waiting list, Hutchinson said. That way, pharmacies won’t have to make multiple calls to find someone to take an open appointment.

”It saves a lot of the work if you take your name off the system,” Hutchinson said.

He and ADH Secretary Dr. Jose Romero urged Arkansans to get vaccinated as soon as they’re able. Romero noted that the United States Centers for Disease Control released new guidance for people vaccinated against COVID, including allowing for gatherings with people outside their home and a loosening of quarantine guidelines. He said he would discuss the new guidance more at the weekly COVID-19 update scheduled this afternoon.

“If it’s your turn to get a vaccine, one, be patient because we’re adding 180,000, and we’ll have over 100,000 doses this week we can administer so we’ll move through them pretty quickly … We should be on target to get through all these vaccinations in 1-B by my goal of the end of March,” Hutchinson said. “Please get your vaccine. If it’s your turn, get it. When we have a clinic, we want all of those slots filled up.”

The number of active cases in the state fell by 374 Monday to reach 3,593; they represented 1.1% of all the cases in the state and included 2,657 confirmed cases and 936 probable cases. There were 316,000 Arkansans considered recovered from the virus Monday, up 483 from Sunday.

By Monday afternoon, the state reported that 742,204 vaccine doses had been administered to Arkansans.

The deaths of 24 Arkansans that resulted from COVID-19 were reported Monday, bringing the state’s death toll to 5,343, indicating a state COVID mortality rate of 1.6%.

The ADH reported 51,256 COVID-19 test results had returned so far in March on Monday, including 2,546 that returned yesterday. Since the state began testing for the virus, 3,221,173 results have returned to the ADH, including 2,883,520 negatives, indicating an overall positivity rate for the state of 10.1%.

At 3:45 p.m. Monday, Johns Hopkins University reported 29,030,476 COVID-19 cases in the United States. Data wasn’t available then on the number of U.S. residents considered recovered from the virus or the number of active cases in the country. There had been 525,541 deaths attributable to the virus reported in the U.S. by Monday afternoon, indicating a national COVID mortality rate of 1.8%.

Johns Hopkins reported 117,055,507 COVID-19 cases worldwide Monday afternoon. There were 66,283,143 people considered recovered from the virus Monday, leaving 48,175,151 cases — 41.2% — active around the world. There had been 2,597,213 deaths attributable to the virus reported by Monday afternoon, indicating a global COVID mortality rate of 2.2%.