Governor Hutchinson 7/20/2020 COVID-19 Press Conference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiFfst3Lq3A
>Today is the first day of the statewide mask mandate- must wear a mask: if they are exposed to a non-household member and distancing of 6 feet or more cannot be assure.
> Case numbers: Friday has 648 new cases, 771 Saturday, 695 new cases Sunday.
> 699 new cases to report today.
> 33,927 cumulative cases
> Washington- 94, Pulaski 60, Benton 57, Craighead 28, Mississippi 26, Pope 26, Sebastian 25, Arkansas and Faulkner 21 each, Garland and Miller 24 each.
> Hospitalized number keeps increasing- largest number to date with
> Hospitalizations per 100,000- Arkansas listed 3rd among AL, MS, AR, KY, OK, TN, KS, TX, LA, MO
> National guard assistance is now available. 10 personnel to support case management work at Washington Regional Medical Center for the next 30 days.
> 7 day rolling average of positivity- now below 10% but needs to get lower.
> Still pushing testing for July to test 3% of our population.
> Dr. Romero-
> 699 new cases- 688 community, no nursing home, 11 correctional
> 471 hospitalized, up 18
> Up 6 deaths to 363
> Total recovered at 26,397
> Active cases- 7,127
> 121 nursing homes; 1,093 correctional; 5,953 community active cases
> Testing has positivity rate of 9.6%
> Cumulative positivity rate of 7.8%
> 5,689 tested July 19
> Low Income Home Energy Assistance: Arkansas has been allocated 8.2 Million for additional assistance. Also raised the limit to $1500 for those who are struggling with electric, water, etc. Run through Arkansas Energy & Environment/ Department. Opening Date July 27. In Benton County, those wanting to apply for this assistance can email ohc.liheap@ochnwa.org Will go through September 30, 2021
> Mitchell Simpson- Director of Office of Energy. This program will assist low income Arkansans. Typically, crisis program requires application to submit a shut off notice- they can just provide a past-due notice.
> Air conditioner program- low income, qualifying Arkansans- elderly, disability, child under 5, medical condition that requires A/C. (please see program for details). Launch July 27.
> Reaching the testing goal for July: likely will not reach the 200,000 tests. Currently at 112,646.