Citing Arkansas' coronavirus vaccination efforts and decline in newly identified infections, the Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday announced that jury trials in state courts will be allowed to resume next month.
"All Arkansas state courts shall continue to follow the Arkansas Department of Health's guidelines concerning face coverings and social distancing," the court said in an unsigned opinion.
"We also encourage all state courts to implement additional measures as necessary to protect the health of trial participants and attendees."
The state reported just two new deaths from the virus Thursday as its count of cases rose by 199, a slightly lower daily increase than the one a week earlier.
The number of people hospitalized with covid-19 in Arkansas fell by nine, to 141, its lowest level since June 4.
The state death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose to 5,662.
Also Thursday, state Epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha said she learned during a call with federal officials that it will "likely be about a month" before the amount of Johnson & Johnson vaccine coming into the state each week goes back up after plummeting next week to 5,200 doses.
This week, the state was allocated 43,500 doses of the single-shot vaccine, up from 17,200 last week.
The reduction for next week followed news that a manufacturing error at a plant in Baltimore caused 15 million doses of the vaccine to be discarded and production to be halted while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigates the matter.
Jury trials haven't been held in Arkansas' state courts since Nov. 20. They were also suspended for a few months last spring.
When the Supreme Court issued an order in February extending the current suspension through April 30, it said it was "encouraged by the recent downward trend in COVID-19 infections in the state and by the increase in vaccinations" and that trials would likely resume next month if the trends continued.
Circuit Judge Pamela Honeycutt, the administrative judge for Arkansas' 2nd Judicial Circuit, said the circuit has a backlog of cases, but she didn't have the specific numbers Thursday.
She said jury selection may be the hard part because it usually draws a crowd. Masks will be required in the courtrooms, and people must maintain a social distance of 6 feet, she said.
She said a church building in Crittenden County has been used for jury trials and may be again. The room looks more like a gymnasium than a sanctuary, she said.
"There's a lot of logistics trying to have court somewhere else," Honeycutt said.
Individual judges will decide whether their courtrooms are large enough for jury selection or trial, she said.
"It's kind of up to the judge, and we have 12 judges," she said.
"Each one of us kind of looks at it and determines whether we can do it or not. ... We have nine courthouses, so each one is a little different. Six counties and nine courthouses."
Those six counties in northeast Arkansas are Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Greene, Mississippi and Poinsett.
Honeycutt said officials already have had people calling in trying to get out of jury duty.
"We want to do everything we can to make people feel comfortable and safe coming in," she said.
FEDERAL COURT
Some trials have already been taking place in federal court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
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In Administrative Order 11, dated Feb. 26, Chief Judge D.P. Marshall Jr. extended a "general suspension" of jury trials for two more months.
"Having done its best to consider all the circumstances, the court concludes that the prudent path forward includes these steps: extending the general suspension of jury trials for two more months; during that suspension, holding a few civil and criminal jury trials where the parties and the presiding judge want to proceed, a jury can be seated and risks can be minimized; and continuing the strong preference for video and telephone hearings of all kinds," Marshall wrote.
All civil and criminal jury trials scheduled between March 23 and May 21 would be continued to a later date to be set by the presiding judge, according to Administrative Order 11. But, after consultation with the parties, the judge could reinstate to the docket any of those jury trials.
"Notwithstanding the good recent trends in the virus-related numbers, and various mitigation measures, holding a jury trial will involve some health risks," Marshall wrote. "Postponing most trials, while proceeding with a few pioneer trials in the coming months, is the best way to measure whether citizens are willing to serve, to ensure that a representative pool of potential jurors can be summoned, and to improve the effectiveness of mitigation measures."
Marshall issued his first order postponing jury trials on March 13, 2020, as the pandemic began to be felt in Arkansas. Trials were allowed to resume in June. Then on Nov. 6, he issued another administrative order postponing jury trials. It has been extended since then.
In U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, all bench and jury trials set to begin before May 3 have been postponed, according to Administrative Order 2021-3, dated March 15.
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"The postponement of these and other cases will be assessed by the court in mid- to late April to determine whether further postponements are appropriate," according to the order signed by Chief Judge Susan O. Hickey.
PLANS ADJUSTED
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of Arkansans who have received at least one vaccine dose rose Thursday by 16,879, to 897,978, representing about 29.8% of the state's population.
The number who had been fully vaccinated rose by 15,514, to 518,824, or about 17.2% of the population.
Among the states and District of Columbia, Arkansas rose from No. 43 to No. 42 in the percentage of residents who had received at least one vaccine dose.
But it fell from 46th to 47th in the percentage of its residents who had been fully vaccinated.
Nationally, 33.7% of people had received at least one vaccine dose, and 19.9% had been fully vaccinated.
Dillaha said Arkansas' low ranking is partly because of "a data issue that we're having that we haven't been able to sort out."
Also, she said some people in Arkansas and other Southern states are "still expressing concerns about the vaccines and have not made a decision yet to be vaccinated."
She said she's hoping that will change as people learn more and the vaccines are provided in more medical clinics, where doctors can help alleviate patients' concerns.
She said the state has prioritized the Johnson & Johnson shots for people at homeless shelters and other settings where scheduling second doses could be difficult.
The state had planned to use Johnson & Johnson to vaccinate prison inmates. Because of the reduction in the state's allotment, however, the state will primarily use Moderna for that.
A smaller number of Johnson & Johnson doses will be used for inmates scheduled to be released before their second Moderna doses are due, Dillaha said.
Walmart representatives announced that Walmart will administer Johnson & Johnson shots at drive-thru clinics at its supercenter at 2700 S. Shackleford Road in Little Rock on Saturday, Sunday and April 17.
Appointments are required. People can schedule them by calling (833) 886-0023 and selecting option 4.
The percentage of Arkansans age 16 and older who had received at least one vaccine dose ranged from 40.2% in Bradley County to 7.4% in Miller County, where many residents have received shots in Texas that aren't reflected in Arkansas' figures.
Among Arkansas' most populous counties, the percentage was 36.3% in Pulaski County, 32.3% in Benton County, 32.8% in Washington County, 20.3% in Sebastian County, 35.8% in Faulkner County, 32.9% in Saline County, 33.7% in Craighead County and 35.1% in Garland County.
Statewide, 36.4% of Arkansans age 16 and older had received at least one vaccine dose, and 21.3% had been fully vaccinated.
"Vaccine doses administered have increased by nearly 154,000 since this time last week," Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a statement Thursday.
"Our hospitalizations and new cases continue to decline, but it's important that we continue to get vaccinated to protect our fellow Arkansans."
DEATHS FALL
Thursday tied with three other days, all within the past week, for the lowest daily increase in the state's death toll this year.
(That excludes Feb. 28, when the Health Department subtracted 174 deaths related to a "data cleanup.")
The average number of covid-19 deaths reported each day over a rolling seven-day period fell from just under five as of Wednesday to less than four as of Thursday.
According to information from the Health Department and The Covid Tracking Project, that was the first time the average had fallen below four since early July and down from a peak average of almost 44 deaths a day in late January.
Dillaha attributed the drop to vaccinations, monoclonal antibodies and other treatments, and fewer new infections.
At least in part because they were eligible for the shots before the general population was, the vaccination rate is particularly high among people age 65 and older, who are at greater risk of severe complications from covid-19.
According to the CDC, 68.4% of Arkansans in that age group had received at least one vaccine dose as of Thursday and 49% were fully vaccinated.
"It could be that if we have higher and higher proportions of people vaccinated, then most of the disease will be mild, and we will have fewer people in the hospital and fewer people dying," Dillaha said.
After a rise earlier in the week, Thursday was the second day in a row that the number of people hospitalized with the virus in the state fell.
But after dropping Wednesday, the number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators rose by three, to 23.
The number of covid-19 patients who were in intensive care as of 2 p.m. fell by five, to 62.
ACTIVE CASES RISE
The number of cases that were added to the state's tallies was down by 45 from the increase a day earlier and by 12 from the one the previous Thursday, April 1.
After rising slightly Wednesday, the average daily increase over a rolling seven-day period fell by about two, to 156.
That still remained above this year's low, reached the week ending April 2, when the state's count rose by an average of 151 cases a day.
The cases that were added Thursday included 151 that were confirmed through polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests.
The other 48 were "probable" cases, which include those identified through less-sensitive antigen tests.
The state's cumulative count of cases rose to 331,704.
That comprised 260,206 confirmed cases and 71,498 probable ones.
The number of cases that were considered active rose by 58, to 1,707, as new cases outpaced recoveries.
Pulaski County had the largest number of new cases, 31, followed by Washington County with 26, and Benton County with 19.
Among prison and jail inmates, the Health Department's count of cases rose by five.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Cindy Murphy said 10 inmates in "intake" at the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern had tested positive.
The unit had a total of 1,700 cases among inmates, including 35 infections that were active as of Thursday.
Both deaths reported Thursday were of people with confirmed infections, raising the death toll among that group to 4,512.
The state's count of virus deaths among nursing home and assisted living facility residents remained at 2,066.
The number of people who have ever been hospitalized in the state with covid-19 grew by 18, to 15,488.
The number of the state's virus patients who have ever been on a ventilator with covid-19 rose by two, to 1,594.