JONESBORO — Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Friday welcomed plans by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to loosen mask guidelines.
During his weekly news conference, Hutchinson noted he talked with Dr. Rochelle Walensky earlier in the day in advance of the announcement. He said that we need to move to a more normal state and away from the pandemic.
“I have advocated for probably a month for the United States to move from the endemic state to a more normal state of operations in management of infections related to COVID,” Hutchinson said. “I know the CDC has worked very hard in revising their guidelines … but we do need to move from the pandemic to the normal state. I think that’s true across the board, whether you’re looking at a Democrat governor saying that or if you’re looking at a Republican governor.”
The CDC outlined the new set of measures for communities where COVID-19 is easing its grip, with less of a focus on positive test results and more on what’s happening at hospitals.
The new system greatly changes the look of the CDC’s risk map and puts more than 70 percent of the U.S. population in counties where the coronavirus is posing a low or medium threat to hospitals. Those are the people who can stop wearing masks, the agency said.
The agency is still advising that people, including schoolchildren, wear masks where the risk of COVID-19 is high. That’s the situation in about 37 percent of U.S. counties, where about 28 percent of Americans reside.
The governor said new vaccination statistics were encouraging, especially among children aged 12 to 18. He said 45 perent of that age category is fully vaccinated. Still, only 15 percent aged 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated, Hutchinson said.
Other age groups: 19 to 24, 46 percent; 25 to 44, 57 percent; 45 to 54, 61 percent; 55 to 64, 68 percent; and 65 and older, 77 percent.
Largely because of inclement weather, the number of new coronavirus cases declined sharply Thursday and Friday. However, the Arkansas Department of Health revealed 84 COVID-related deaths on those two days. Those include two each in Clay and Greene counties and one each in Jackson, Lawrence and Mississippi counties.
The state had a combined total of 894 new cases on those two days. The number of active cases dropped Friday to 6,753. Since the pandemic reached Arkansas in March 2020, the state believes the virus was at least a contributing factor in the deaths of 10,425 people in the state.
Thursday and Friday combined Northeast Arkansas COVID-19 case numbers by county:
Craighead – 41 new cases; 208 active cases.
Greene – 22 new cases; 100 active.
Lawrence – 2 new cases; 40 active.
Poinsett – 7 new cases; 78 active.
Jackson – 9 new cases; 40 active.
Mississippi – 8 new cases; 65 active.
Randolph – 1 new cases; 28 active.
Cross – 3 new cases; 34 active.
Clay – 4 new cases; 37 active.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
