This time last year most Arkansans were stuck indoors, unable to see friends and family. (Remember those days?) There was no telling who covid-19 would hit next. Hospitalization rates were going up, and Gov. Asa Hutchinson was on TV every day.
This summer is a different story. In just half a year, vaccines have brought this pandemic from an uncertain terror to a manageable problem. But now the vaccination rate is beginning to slow. That wouldn't matter much if Arkansas was like Vermont, and had an 80 percent vaccination rate. But data from various sources shows we're closer to half that.
And hospitalization rates have started to climb again.
Talk to any nurse or doctor who worked in a hospital during the covid-19 peak around Christmas. It was horrific. One emergency room nurse we spoke with last year told us stories that chilled our spines. So you can understand why medical staff might be on edge about rising hospitalization rates.
The pandemic isn't over. In this country, hundreds of people still die each day from covid-19. And now there's a virus variant called Delta that's even more deadly circulating around the country.
The governor said he wanted half the state vaccinated in 90 days, and that was weeks ago. Arkansas is just now hitting 41 percent of folks with at least one shot, and scientists say it'll take closer to 70 or 80 percent of folks getting vaccinated to hit herd immunity and leave the virus no place to run so it can mutate further.
Arkansas can't allow hospitalization rates to keep climbing each week. Too many folks have worked making vaccines so life can return to normal. Don't let all that hard work go to waste.