Gov Hutchinson – COVID

Public officials in Arkansas continue to express frustration that demand for COVID-19 vaccines in the state is not matching supply.

 During a brief COVID-19 Taskforce press conference on Tuesday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said the state is lagging behind the national average in terms of vaccination rates. He said Arkansans remain hesitant of the vaccine but stressed the need to overcome those concerns to help ensure an end to the pandemic. He added the state is behind on its vaccination schedule which aimed to have 50 percent of the state fully vaccinated by the end of April.

 Currently, 2.3 million COVID-19 vaccines have been received by the state. Of those, nearly 1.6 million – or around 68 percent – have been given. The state is reporting around 638,000 Arkansans are now fully immunized. 

 Arkansas Health Secretary Dr. Jose Romero briefly discussed the agency’s focus on studying the spread of COVID-19 variants in Arkansas. In particular, he said the UK variant has seen a 70 percent increase in Arkansas over the past week. 

 Regarding the state’s COVID-19 figures, the Department of Health reported 198 new cases of COVID-19 across Arkansas on Tuesday. That raises the state’s cumulative total to 333,709 transmissions since the pandemic began. Active cases grew by 15 to 1,804 over the previous 24 hours. Deaths increased by seven over the same period to 5,706 since last spring. Hospitalizations increased by 13 to leave 177 Arkansans currently hospitalized due to the virus.