Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Tuesday that he's limiting his meetings and public appearances "out of an abundance of caution" after a person he was in a meeting with on Friday tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Republican governor's announcement was made the same day the state's budget director, the head of the state Department of Corrections, a state senator and two state representatives said they had contracted the virus.
Meanwhile, the state's count of virus cases rose by 844, topping 100,000, while the number of people hospitalized with covid-19 rose to a record for the second day in a row.
The death toll from the virus, as tracked by the state Department of Health, rose by 14, to 1,728.
Hutchinson said contact tracing was conducted after the person who had been at the meeting Friday tested positive.
The governor said he was notified early Monday that "there were questions about my exposure even though I remained over 6 feet away from the individual."
He said he was given both a rapid, antigen coronavirus test that morning as well as a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test, which is considered to be more accurate. Both were negative.
Later Monday, he flew to events in Jonesboro, Harrison, Rogers, El Dorado and North Little Rock to promote a proposed constitutional amendment that would permanently extend a state sales tax for road projects.
"If those tests had come back positive, either the antigen or the PCR, I would not have participated in that trip, and presumably it would have gone on without me, but I would not have been participating in it," Hutchinson said.
"Those tests came back negative and so I did participate in those, and we also made sure that we wore our masks throughout that day.
"As I came back after that, the Department of Health had a further discussion with the individual that tested positive, and they said out of an abundance of caution, let's go ahead and not quarantine, but let's limit engagements to really essential activities."
He said he wasn't required to quarantine because, during the meeting Friday in his conference room at the Capitol, he was more than 6 feet away from the person who tested positive.
But he said he decided to limit his activities anyway "to make sure that we don't inadvertently expose anyone."
"I don't want people in a meeting with me that feel uncomfortable because I might have been around somebody that, even though they were 10 feet away, that there might have been -- that they ultimately tested positive, and so this is really out of an abundance of caution," Hutchinson said.
OFFICIALS INFECTED
Hutchinson's spokeswoman, Katie Beck, declined to say Tuesday night whether the budget director, Jake Bleed, was at the meeting Friday that the governor mentioned at his news conference.
In a telephone interview, Bleed said he had a meeting with the governor Friday and that "we wore masks and I was probably 10 feet away the whole time."
Bleed, who participated in Tuesday morning's Joint Budget Committee meeting by Zoom videoconferencing software, said he tested positive for the coronavirus Sunday after having mild symptoms.
"I feel fine," he said in an interview early Tuesday evening.
He said he will probably participate in the legislative budget hearings by Zoom for at least next week and the following week and that he will follow the Department of Health's protocols.
Corrections Secretary Solomon Graves also attended a meeting with the governor Friday and learned Tuesday morning that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, said department spokeswoman Cindy Murphy.
[Interactive Arkansas map not showing up above? Click here to see it: nwaonline.com/arvirus]
Graves was contacted by the Department of Health and tested Monday morning because he was exposed to someone who had tested positive for the coronavirus sometime between Friday's meeting in the governor's office and Monday, Murphy said.
Graves went home Monday and is isolating himself, Murphy said.
"He feels great," she said. "So far, he has no symptoms."
Beck said attendees at the meeting on Friday "were in compliance with the mask directive and the meeting was according to public health guidelines."
"Masks were worn unless socially distanced by more than 6 feet," Beck said in an email.
Sen. Terry Rice, R-Waldron, and Reps. Michelle Gray, R-Melbourne, and Stu Smith, R-Batesville, said they have tested positive for covid-19 and that they don't know how they were infected.
Legislative committee meetings were canceled for Tuesday afternoon, today and Thursday; committee meetings set for next week are still on the schedule. The committee meetings include budget hearings in advance of the regular legislative session that starts in January.
PRECAUTIONS ADVISED
The Health Department requires a person to quarantine if that person is a "close contact" to someone who tests positive.
[CORONAVIRUS: Click here for our complete coverage » nwaonline.com/coronavirus]
That contact is defined as being within 6 feet of the person for at least 15 minutes during the period when the person was infectious.
Health Secretary Jose Romero said Hutchinson didn't meet the quarantine criteria, but that "there were other issues surrounding the interaction that raised the possibility of exposure."
He said Hutchinson would be offered antigen and PCR tests today, Friday and Monday.
"Additional testing will be determined at that point," Romero said, adding that the governor will also be tested "immediately" if he develops symptoms between any of those days.
The precautions resulting from the possible exposure included holding Hutchinson's weekly coronavirus news conference -- at which the governor made the announcement on limiting his activities -- via videoconference.
He said other people in his administration are "following the same or similar protocols as I'm following ... based upon what the Department of Health has directed."
Health Department spokesman Gavin Lesnick said Romero is among those taking precautions.
"Dr. Romero was in a meeting last week with an individual who later tested positive, but Dr. Romero remained more than 6 feet away and the contact did not rise to the level of necessitating quarantine," Lesnick said in an email.
"But like the governor, Dr. Romero is limiting contact with others."
He said the department is "not able to release information on the individual who was at the meeting with the governor or the number of cases or exposures linked to that person. Similarly, we can't advise about the health status of cabinet secretaries."
Citing a health privacy law, Hutchinson also declined to name the person who tested positive.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette asked his office who else attended the meeting Friday in addition to the person who tested positive; whether those people were in quarantine; whether they have been tested; and whether any other meeting participants tested positive.
In a written statement, Hutchinson said: "Everyone on my staff will follow the Department of Health guidelines and instructions. We have three members of my staff currently working remotely. They have tested negative for Covid-19. The names are not being released consistent with Health Department privacy rules."
At the news conference, he said his office's employees worked remotely for a "short period of time" early in the pandemic but had been working at the Capitol for more than six months.
"We have regularly conducted our meetings with social distancing and mask wearing as needed following the guidelines," he said.
CASES TOP 100,000
The state's count of cases confirmed through PCR tests rose Tuesday by 628, to 94,418.
Its tally of "probable" cases, which include those identified through less-sensitive antigen tests, rose by 216, to 6,023.
At a record level since Monday, the number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 rose by 24, to 637.
Those patients included 101 who were on ventilators, up from from 99 a day earlier.
The state's death toll among confirmed cases rose to 1,576, while the count of deaths among probable cases was unchanged at 152.
The state's cumulative count of confirmed and probable cases rose to 100,441.
The number of cases that were considered active fell by 236, to 8,422, as 1,066 Arkansans were newly classified as having recovered.
Despite the different classifications, the Health Department has said it treats confirmed and probable cases the same for the purposes of its contact-tracing efforts.
That includes requiring people whose results are positive from either type of test to isolate themselves, and those they may have infected to quarantine.
HOSPITAL CONCERNS
Hutchinson said the number of people hospitalized "is a concern to us."
"In talking with our Department of Health and talking with some of the hospital officials, they describe it as tight, but they have such a good working relationship among them that they can move resources and continue to do other necessary surgeries," he said.
He said officials are "worried about the winter" and hospitals' ability to handle coronavirus and flu patients at the same time.
"We need to really work hard in our flu season to control that and hopefully to get the hospitalizations down, even though everyone is prepared and realistic that those hospitalizations very well will go up a little bit more from where they are now," he said.
Through Saturday, five flu-related hospital admissions had been reported, including three last week, the Health Department said in its weekly flu report on Tuesday.
As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, the state had a total of 2,560 empty hospital beds, including 152 in intensive care units, and 707 ventilators that were not in use, according to the department.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center had 27 coronavirus patients on Tuesday, including seven who were in intensive care, spokeswoman Leslie Taylor said.
"We have not had to activate any sort of surge plan yet, but we're ready if we need to," she said.
The intensive care unit remained on "max" status, meaning it had a small number of beds available to accept transfers from other parts of the hospital.
At St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro, "we have seen a steady increase in covid-positive patients," spokesman Mitchell Nail said.
Within the past of couple weeks, the hospital added 18 more isolation beds for such patients, allowing it to handle a total of 74 at one time.
That capacity could be doubled if necessary, although the hospital had fewer than 74 covid-19 patients as of Tuesday, Nail said.
COMPLIANCE LACKING
At the news conference, Romero said the increase in the state's cases "indicates that the mask mandate is not being adhered to as we would like to see it."
That directive, which took effect July 20, requires Arkansans to wear masks in most public places where they can't be assured of staying at least 6 feet from people from other households.
"We need to have at least 50% of the population use the masks and use these guidelines consistently in order to see a decrease in the number of cases that we report each day," he said.
Hutchinson showed a chart at the news conference indicating that the state's northeastern public health region recently surpassed the northwestern region as the one with the largest average daily growth in its cases over a rolling seven-day period.
Cases in the northeast region grew 8.3% last week, the largest percentage in the state among the five regions.
The central region had the next-highest percentage increase, 5.4%, followed by the southwest region, which had a 5.2% increase.
Cases grew by 4.3% in the northwestern region and 4.1% in the southeastern region.
SCHOOL WORKER DEATHS
The number of public school district employees known to have died of covid-19 now includes Melissa Hilton, a paraprofessional at the Cabot School District's Westside Elementary campus who worked with students in several roles.
Cabot Superintendent Tony Thurman on Tuesday forwarded a statement to the Democrat-Gazette that had earlier gone to the Westside School families.
"We received permission from the Hilton family today to share the heartbreaking news that a member of our Westside Elementary staff passed away last week," the statement said in part.
"Mrs. Hilton had several underlying health issues and tested positive for covid-19 at the time of her passing," the statement also said about Hilton, who, according to social media, was married and has a school-aged son.
The Cabot district said in its statement about Hilton that contact tracing was done to identify those who associated with Hilton and who might have been exposed to the virus.
"It was determined that there were no probable close contacts based on Arkansas Department of Health and Arkansas Department of Education guidelines," the statement said.
Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, said in a Facebook post that the death on Saturday of Nettleton Athletic Director Greg Rainwater, 51, was also due to "complications related to a diagnosis of covid-19."
Rapert, an old childhood friend and distant cousin of Rainwater, called him a "wonderful Arkansas educator, coach and pastor."
"We both were called to Africa to serve on the mission field during our lives in ministry, which is something we had communicated about over the years," Rapert said.
Other school system employees who have died in recent weeks of covid-19 include Atkins Superintendent Jody Jenkins, Watson Chapel teacher Angela Francis, Harrisburg teacher Susanne Michael and Russellville School District bus driver Terry Thacker.
At Hutchinson's news conference, Education Secretary Johnny Key said such deaths "are prompting us to be more diligent in reminding everyone to follow the precautions set forth by the Health Department and also reminding us that life is precious and we must understand the severity and nature of this disease -- this virus. It is very important that we follow the guidelines."
"It's a tragedy when that happens," Key said about the deaths. "It serves to reminds us to continue to be diligent."
INSTRUCTIONAL SHIFTS
Key also said that as of Tuesday, there were 16 schools or school districts currently shifted to virtual instruction as the result of cases of covid-19 or exposure among teachers or students.
During the week that ran from Oct. 11 through Saturday, there were 20 schools or districts that had to transition in some way to virtual learning for a period of time, Key said.
Since the beginning of the school year, a total of 158 temporary modifications in the delivery of instruction have been made because of covid-19 cases, covid-19 exposures resulting in quarantines, and weather or other issues.
"We continue to give feedback to districts, and we work with them on their changes to instruction and how they can better serve the needs of their students and make modifications so that the load on teachers isn't quite what it was," he said.
Among the districts that have moved to virtual instruction is the Blytheville School District for all students in kindergarten through 12th grades, according to the district's Facebook page.
Virtual instruction started Monday and will continue through Oct. 30 because of multiple covid-19 cases and probable close contacts, according to the post. All buildings were closed Monday for deep cleaning. Staff members reported to campuses on Tuesday, in part to help hand out Chromebook computers to students.
On a smaller scale, Gosnell Elementary School sent kindergartners home this week to learn virtually as the result of 57 pupils as well as five teachers being placed in quarantine. On-site instruction is set to resume Nov. 2.
In the Cleveland County School District's grades seven through 12, virtual instruction that began Monday will go through today.
The Arkansas Department of Health will use today to administer a drive-thru-style clinic in the Rison High School gym parking lot, according to the district's social media posts.
The clinic will test any student or staff member who wants to be tested from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event is for district students and employees only. Participants must remain in their vehicles while being tested. The test is a nasal swab and can be self-administered. Results are usually produced within 24-48 hours.
Rison Elementary School and Early Head Start/Head Start in the Cleveland County district will remain on campus for in-person learning at regular times.
The Little Rock School District reported Tuesday that a staff member at the district's technology center had tested positive for covid-19 and that 35 people districtwide were quarantined for exposure to the coronavirus in the 24-hour period between 3 p.m. Monday and 3 p.m. Tuesday.
The district posts a report daily on new covid-19 cases and quarantines. Of those who are newly quarantined, five are district employees and 30 are students. Seventeen of the quarantined are students at Pulaski Heights Middle School.
There are three students each at Central High and Horace Mann Middle School. There are two students at each of Meadowcliff, Wakefield and Washington elementaries and one student at Southwest High.
There is one staff member newly quarantined at each of Cloverdale Middle, Mann Middle, Mabelvale Middle, Parkview High, and Roberts Elementary.
SCHOOL TESTING
Key also said Tuesday that school officials had identified the 14 schools that will be eligible to receive enough antigen testing kits to conduct weekly testing of their employees.
Those schools are Central and Parkview high schools in Little Rock, Bob Courtway Middle School in Conway, Green Forest High School, Greenwood High School and Junior High, Harp Elementary in Springdale, Magnolia High School, Newport High School, Northside High School in Fort Smith, Russellville Junior High School, Spring Hill Elementary School in Hope, Visual & Performing Art Magnet school in Jonesboro and Dumas Junior High School.
Key said last week that the schools would be chosen based on the level of covid-19 infections in the community; the district's history of having to shift to virtual instruction in response to virus cases; the number of cases within the district; and "any emerging information that may come about that shows that a hot spot could be developing."
He said Tuesday that the Education Department will hold webinars today and Friday so that the schools can "get the information that they need so that they can understand if this is something they want to be a part of."
"We are not requiring it of them, but it's something that, based on their numbers, based on their criteria that they looked at, identified them as potential good candidates for this type of testing."
He said last week that he hoped for testing to start the week of Nov. 2.
WHITE HOUSE REPORT
According to the latest report from the White House coronavirus task force, Arkansas had the second-highest number of new deaths per capita in the country, behind North Dakota, last week for the second week in a row.
Arkansas' 6,226 new cases last week translated to a rate of 206 cases per 100,000 residents.
That was the 12th-highest rate in the country.
The previous week, the state had 183 new cases per 100,000 residents, which was the 11th-highest rate.
In counties with high levels of transmission "both public and private gatherings should be as small as possible and optimally, not extend beyond immediate family," the latest edition of the report said.
The report continued to list Arkansas as being in the "red zone" for cases, meaning it had 101 or more new cases per 100,000 residents last week.
It also continued to list Arkansas as being in the "yellow zone" for its percentage of PCR tests that were positive.
That number rose from 6.7% during the week that ended Oct. 7 to 7.6% during the week that ended Oct. 14.
States were considered to be in the yellow zone for that measure if 5%-7.9% of their tests were positive and in the "orange zone" if 8%-10% of their tests were positive.