Arkansas leads the country in new COVID-19 cases per capita and has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation, according to a story from the Associated Press on Wednesday.
Public health researchers are calling the rapid rise in coronavirus cases in Arkansas a raging forest fire, and the state’s top health official says he expects significant outbreaks in schools.
A University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences model released Tuesday projects a daily average of more than 1,000 new cases over the next week, and Arkansas Health Secretary Dr. Jose Romero says he expects school outbreaks based on what has already happened at daycares and camps.
Due to the rapid, local emergence of the Delta variant of COVID-19, White River Health System said Tuesday hospitalizations are increasing at an astonishing rate. (See below.)
And in the clear majority of hospitalizations — not only regionally, but also nationally — the patients have not been fully vaccinated, if at all.
At Monday’s meeting of community leaders and WRHS medical staff, Dr. J.D. Allen (pictured above, center) noted none of the current WRHS patients at that time (30 on Monday) had been vaccinated — and many of those patients were under the age of 40.
A COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force has been formed from that meeting to provide information about vaccinations and create convenient opportunities for citizens in our communities to receive the vaccine. The chairpersons of the task force, Dr. Allen and Mark Lamberth, are inviting the public to local community events featuring local physicians and leaders to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations.
(For more information about the first of these community events, click here.)
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Confusion and misinformation about the vaccines have been two major reasons some have noted for not getting vaccinated.
White River Now’s Chad Whiteaker recently visited with Dr. Allen, Dr. Caroline Carlton (pictured above, right), and WRHS CEO Gary Paxson (left) about the details and misconceptions of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Listen below:
White River Now and WRHS remind everyone: Please protect yourselves and your families by becoming vaccinated, keeping your distance from people outside your household, and washing your hands.
For a list of vaccination locations across Arkansas from the Arkansas Department of Health, click here.
Antigen (Rapid) COVID-19 tests and PCR COVID-19 tests are available at the following WRHS clinics:
- Batesville Family Care Clinic
- Cave City Medical Clinic
- Diagnostic Clinic at WRMC
- Drasco Medical Clinic
- Melbourne Medical Clinic
- Midway Medical Clinic
- Newport Diagnostic Medical Clinic
- Pleasant Plains Medical Clinic
- Stone County Family Medicine Clinic
- Stone County Primary Care Clinic
- Strawberry Medical Clinic
- Sugarloaf Medical Clinic
- WRMC Medical Complex Southside
Contact the clinic nearest to you if you have symptoms of COVID-19 including:
- fever
- cough
- shortness of breath
- fatigue
- muscle aches
- headache
- sore throat
- new loss of taste or smell
- nausea/vomiting
- diarrhea
Current hospitalized COVID-19 patients from WRHS as of Wednesday:
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