Six of the state Department of Finance and Administration's 134 revenue offices -- like some other parts of state government -- have been closed for brief periods since Jan. 1 because of staffing shortages related to the surge from the omicron covid-19 variant.
A survey of agencies last week showed that some have had to temporarily close offices with employees out sick or for cleaning.
The Bentonville revenue office was closed Friday and the West Memphis office closed late Friday morning. The offices "will reopen when we have adequate staff," finance department spokesman Scott Hardin said. State offices were closed Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
The department won't make a formal determination until early this morning about whether the offices will reopen today, "but as of now we anticipate both offices will be closed," Hardin said late Monday afternoon.
The revenue offices in Harrison, Pine Bluff and Rogers have been closed for a day or less and the Magnolia office was closed for nearly two days, according to the department's records. In addition, several locations have been closed for an hour in order to sanitize the offices.
State Revenue Commissioner Charlie Collins said employees have been shifted from temporarily closed revenue offices to open offices to cover the increased traffic.
For example, customers in Northwest Arkansas could go to the revenue offices in Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers when the office is closed in Bentonville, he said.
"We don't have a major issue in office closings," Department of Finance and Administration Secretary Larry Walther said Friday. The impact to the public has been minimized, he said.
Throughout the finance department, 7% of its roughly 2,300 employees tested positive for covid-19 and 6% of the employees were exposed to someone who tested positive in the past week, Walther said. Seven percent of the employees would be about 161 employees, and 6% would be about 138 employees.
Walther said one employee in the department's budget office tested positive last week and had close contact with most of the office's other employees so "they [were] working from home to be safe" and "they should be back" today.
Last week was the beginning of state lawmakers' budget hearings of state agencies in advance of the fiscal session starting Feb. 14. The budget hearings are scheduled to resume today.
Two state senators tested positive for covid-19 last week, Senate President Pro Tempore Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, said Thursday.
Sen. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, on Wednesday tweeted about his positive test.
Hickey said Thursday that he wasn't at liberty to disclose the identity of the other senator who tested positive. Neither senator attended budget hearings in the Multi-Agency Complex immediately west of the state Capitol, Hickey said.
PRISON SYSTEM
The state Department of Corrections has implemented what it calls the essential movement plan at all facilities through Jan. 31 to lessen the impact of increasing covid-19 cases counts among staff, inmates and residents, department spokeswoman Cindy Murphy said. The plan was first implemented on Dec. 31 and then extended Thursday, she said.
"Our Leadership Team will continue to monitor the situation and evaluate the need for an extension at the end of the month," she said in a written statement.
"The department continues to work aggressively to mitigate the spread of COVID-19," Murphy said. "Limiting non-essential movement within and between facilities and suspending visitation will aid our leadership in effectively responding to the surge."
She said Friday that the department has 388 employees who have tested positive and not recovered and 195 inmates who have tested positive and not recovered.
She said 12,703 inmates have tested positive and recovered.
The department has 4,200 employees and 14,445 offenders in the Division of Correction and 1,000 offenders in the Division of Community Correction.
HUMAN SERVICES
The Department of Human Services has had to close some offices for short periods of time either for cleaning or to let the time lapse between the time an employee who tested positive for covid-19 was in the office to when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people can come back, said Department of Human Services spokeswoman Amy Webb.
"But even in those cases, we are able to work remotely in most positions and can continue work," she said.
"We are seeing increased numbers of employees who are positive or quarantined due to exposure" in the past month compared with the same period in 2021, Webb said.
"We continue to do contact tracing, notifying close contacts, and cleaning or clearing of areas when needed," Webb said "We also are encouraging employees to take precautions."
HEALTH DEPARTMENT
Some Department of Health offices have had to reduce services because of staff shortages related to covid-19 in the past month, said department spokeswoman Meg Mirivel.
"Some ADH local health units have had limited services, but most were able to provide all services again within one week," she said.
Increasing numbers of department employees are reporting symptoms and testing positive for covid-19 in the past month compared with the same period a year ago, Mirivel said.
"So far this week, 47 employees have tested positive, and we currently have 122 employees who are considered a close contact," she said Friday. "This is higher than any time since the beginning of the pandemic."
The department has 2,067 employees, Mirivel said.
The Department of Health is now requiring masks in all buildings, limiting the number of people in an elevator at one time, and ceasing most in-person meetings, she said.
On Dec. 28, a Pulaski County circuit judge ruled that the state Legislature's ban on mask mandates imposed by government agencies and public schools is unconstitutional. Act 1002 of 2021 prohibited state and local governments, including public school districts, from mandating that individuals wear masks during the coronavirus pandemic.
PARKS AGENCY
At the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, the visitor center at Lake DeGray State Park closed Friday for two hours in response to staffing shortages, department spokesman Jeff LeMaster said Friday.
"This was the first notable closure of a facility that we've had," he said in a written statement.
"Restaurants in state parks are operating at limited capacity as well," LeMaster said Friday.
The department hasn't yet run an analysis on the total number of employees reporting that they have tested positive for covid-19 or had exposure to someone who has tested positive, "but we have definitely seen an uptick in such scenarios in the past few weeks," he said.
"Our staff at the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, like so many Arkansans over the past month, have felt the impact of this latest surge of COVID-19," Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism Secretary Stacy Hurst said in a written statement.
"I am proud of the way they are all working hard to be protective of each other and the many visitors to our parks, museums and visitor centers."
PUBLIC SAFETY
At the Department of Public Safety, "anecdotal information from section supervisors and human resource offices within DPS operations indicate local level offices and state administrative headquarters are experiencing an uptick in COVID related illness among employees, both law enforcement and civilian support staff, compared to this time last year," department spokesman Bill Sadler said in a written statement.
"... all DPS related services available to the public remain in an active status and have gone uninterrupted in recent months by COVID illnesses," he said.
All Department of Public Safety operations and locations that typically are accessible for the public to conduct business remain open, Sadler said.
Prerequisites for entry may differ across the state at particular Department of Public Safety office sites, depending on local office accommodations, Sadler said.
"Classrooms at the Northwest Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy ... have transitioned from live classes to virtual classroom training due to an increasing number of area law enforcement officers who've contracted COVID," he said. "However, instructors and staff continue to carry-out their duties at the Springdale facility."
EDUCATION, AGRICULTURE
At the Department of Education, the Arkansas School for the Blind and School for the Deaf shifted their students and staff to Alternative Methods of Instruction days and plan to return to onsite instruction today, Department of Education spokeswoman Kimberly Mundell said.
The Department of Agriculture's Forestry Division offices in Pulaski, Faulkner, Union and Pike counties closed last week because of covid cases or quarantine requirements, department spokeswoman Amy Lyman said Friday.
The Pulaski and Union county offices closed Wednesday, the Faulkner County office closed Thursday and Pike County closed Friday because of staff shortages, and some employees are working remotely as they are able, she said.
The Arkansas Department of Agriculture had 62 employees out because of covid-19 Friday, compared with 17 who were on leave because of covid in the first two weeks of January 2021, Lyman said. The department has 564 employees.