News

On Wednesday, members of the Arkansas Legislative Council were given an update on unemployment claims in the state. This week, we have also been reviewing a preliminary report from the Arkansas Economic Recovery Task Force.Arkansas’s unemployment rate doubled from 5.0% in March to 10.2% in April. The U.S. rate is 14.7%. There were more than […]

The Northwest Arkansas region continues to lead the state in new cases, with Washington County posting 53 new cases today. As Governor Hutchinson explained, the different regions of the state are experiencing the epidemic at different times. While Central Arkansas was home to the first spike in cases, the Southwest and Northwest regions are the […]

Of the new cases, all 261 are in the community (not prisons or nursing homes). This is the largest number of community cases reported in 24 hours.40% of the new cases are in Benton and Washington County.½ of all cases had no symptoms at the time of testing.Economic Recovery Task Force to release a preliminary […]

A 7-year-old girl from Little Rock is showing us that girls of all ages can lead.Vivian Lord didn’t just wonder why there were no girl Army toy soldiers to play with, she did something about it.Vivian lives in Rep. Andrew Collins’ district. In this video, Rep. Collins chats with Vivian about her inspiring journey to […]

Last week, the number of cases for children ages 0-17 grew by 46%. In the same week, the number of cases for those 18-24 grew by 32%. Other increases among age groups were as follows: Ages 25-44 26%Ages 45-64 22%Ages 65+    16% Health Secretary Dr. Nate Smith says the state is seeing a number […]

UAMS released new predictive models today showing the number of cumulative cases in the state could reach 8,500 by June 23. The Governor says we are now at a critical point. He added that the state cannot enter Phase 2 of re-opening the economy with an upward trajectory. He said the direction we go from […]

Memorial Day will be different this year. The threat of the coronavirus will limit the large gatherings of people who typically come together at ceremonies.But the virus cannot stop us from taking a moment of private reflection to honor the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform who died protecting freedom.Arkansas was and is […]

The Health Department was able to do contact tracing on 60% of the new cases reported yesterday. Contact tracers were able to conclude that 24% of the community cases had known contact with a previous case. They were also able to conclude that half of the new cases from Washington County came from just three […]

There are 455 new cases of COVID-19 being reported in the last 24 hours. It is the largest single-day increase so far. Health Secretary Dr. Nate Smith says of those, 229 are from correctional facilities and 226 are in the community.Of the community cases, 33 were reported in  Yell County, 26 in Washington County, 27 […]

Of the active cases in the state, 85 are in nursing homes, 315 in correctional facilities, and 644 in the community.The Governor is in Washington DC today meeting with the President and Vice-President to discuss Arkansas’ COVID-19 response and issues facing the food supply chain since a number of food processors are located in the […]

The Governor announced today that all nursing home residents and staff in Arkansas will be tested. The state-wide testing will begin June 1. It is expected to take one month to complete all the testing.The number of active cases in nursing homes continues to decline. 72 nursing home residents have recovered.State-wide, there are 110 new […]

Of the 1068 active cases in Arkansas, Health Secretary Dr. Nate Smith says 378 are in correctional facilities, 99 are in nursing homes and 591 are in the community.The Governor announced today that bars affiliated with restaurants can open tomorrow with restrictions to be issued by the Arkansas Department of Health. Free-standing bars (those not […]