ARK COVID-19 - Arkansas has seen its largest single-day increase in new coronavirus cases among non-incarcerated people. Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Friday that 703 people tested positive including 41 inmates at correctional facilities. An additional six deaths from COVID-19 increased the state’s death toll to over 200. Speaking in his daily briefing, Hutchinson explained the State Department of Health’s Guidelines that strongly recommend people wear face-mask protection in the workplace and in public as doing so would reduce community spread of the disease.
"Face covering should be worn in all indoor settings where you're exposed to non-household members and physical distancing of six feet or more cannot be assured,"Hutchinson explained."
Governor Hutchinson said he still does not support any statewide measure requiring Arkansans to wear face masks in public but did encourage people to follow the guidelines. State Department of Health’s Dr. Nate Smith said they’re working to determine if there’s a relationship between the spike in Covid-19 infections and weekend activity.
"But when you see a weekly pattern like that and you go back the five or six days of the average incubation period," Smith said, "at least there's a suggestion that what's happening on the weekends is having some bearing there."
Since the Governor’s press conference, the Arkansas Department of Health released and update over the weekend; there are now 15,561 confirmed Covid-19 cases with 225 deaths reported.
