Cumulative Total Increases to 31; State to Hire More Contact Tracers
RISON – Cleveland County Health Officer Dr. Mark Attwood reported Tuesday six new cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus have been confirmed in the county over the past week to bring the overall total to 31 since the outbreak began.
Those six cases reflect a 24 percent increase in the cumulative cases over a seven-day period. Dr. Attwood reported that six of those 31 cases remained active as of Tuesday.
According to the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) website, there have been no deaths attributed to the virus in Cleveland County.
Dr. Attwood said his numbers are based on a real-time database figures that tracks the cases in Cleveland County as they are submitted to the ADH. He explained that there is a slight delay before the real-time numbers are transferred onto the ADH website that is viewed by the public.
According to data from the ADH website, a total of 798 tests for the coronavirus have been administered in Cleveland County this year with 31 of those being positive. That equates to a positive rate of nearly 3.9 percent, which is below the state average but higher than last week’s positivity rate of 3.5 percent for the county.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Monday that he was increasing his July testing goal from 180,000 to 200,000 despite getting off to a slow start due to the Independence Day holiday.
In that same press conference, Hutchinson and Arkansas Health Secretary Dr. Nate Smith expressed concerns about the delay in getting test results for those people who have been tested by private labs. Due to the backlog of tests, Hutchinson said it can take up to seven days to get the results back.
He noted that the turnaround for those tests conducted through the ADH is about two days. Hutchinson said people can be tested for the coronavirus through any local health unit, including the Cleveland County Health Unit in Rison. To schedule a test, call the health unit at (870) 325-6311.
During the governor’s daily press conference on Monday, Stephanie Williams, deputy director for the ADH, said the state has entered into contracts with two firms for more “contact tracers” that will essentially triple the number of tracers in the state.
Contact tracers are those who make phone calls to people who may have come in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
Williams said the state currently haa 320 people from within the ADH and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences dedicated to contract tracing. She said issued a contract with General Dynamics for another 350 tracers and will be adding another 350 tracers through another contract.
Williams said one problem the contract tracers are having is reaching people over the telephone. With people now able to see the telephone numbers that are calling in, she said people are hesitant to answer a phone number they are not familiar with. Williams said all contact tracers will be using the telephone number: (877) 272-6819 or 877 AR COV. She noted that contact tracers will not typically call after 8 p.m.
The increase in contact tracers comes as the state has seen a sharp increase in the number of positive cases.
Last Thursday, the governor reported a record-high single day increase of 878 new cases.
While the daily totals have dropped significantly since then, both Hutchinson and Dr. Smith attribute that more to a reduction in testing as opposed to a decline in the virus.
Both said during Tuesday’s press conference that fewer tests were conducted over the Independence Day holiday weekend, and therefore there were few new cases: 439 on Monday and 259 on Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, the governor announced that largest single-day increase in hospitalizations as 32 more people had to be hospitalized as a result of the virus. Those additional hospitalizations brought the state’s overall total to 369 as of Tuesday.
Hutchinson attributed the single-day spike in hospitalizations to delays in getting the numbers after the state experienced a spike in cases about a week ago.
For comparison purposes for those who live on the borders of Cleveland County or frequently travel to neighboring counties, numbers for surrounding counties as of publication time are listed below. Both Jefferson and Lincoln Counties’ totals include those within Arkansas Department of Corrections facilities.
- Grant County: 51 total, 14 active
- Jefferson County: 774 total, 106 active
- Lincoln County: 1,044 total, 22 active
- Drew County: 79 total, 28 active
- Bradley County: 55 total, 13 active
- Calhoun County: 2 total, 2 active
- Dallas County: 10 total, 3 active
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July 09, 2020 at 04:48AM
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County Sees Six More Virus Cases - Cleveland County Herald
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