Arkansas Governor Allows State’s Public Health Emergency For COVID-19 to End; Clarifies That the State Still Feels the Effects of Pandemic

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said that he's allowing the state's public health emergency for COVID-19 to end.

According to the Associated Press, the state's public health emergency for the virus officially ended on Monday, and Hutchinson decided not to renew it anymore.

However, during Tuesday's conference, the governor said that the state of Arkansas is still taking COVID-19 and its effects very seriously.

"I need to emphasize that we are still in a pandemic. We still have 20 plus people dying every day because of COVID. Just because the technical emergency was not extended does not mean we're not still in a very serious situation with the pandemic and the actions we need to take," Hutchinson said.

Arkansas ranked 24th in the US with highest COVID-19 cases

Last spring, Hutchinson lifted most of its virus restrictions, which includes a statewide mask mandate. Back then, he also ended the state's emergency declaration.

However, the Arkansas governor was forced to reinstate the emergency after seeing a massive surge in COVID-19 cases in July due to the Delta variant.

According to the Health Department, the death toll in Arkansas due to COVID-19 already reached 7,651. And around 21 new deaths were recorded recently.

Additionally, the state reported that its total cases rose from 800 to 493,920 since the pandemic began.

Arkansas also ranks 24th in the United States for new cases per capita, according to the figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Asa Hutchinson gives update on school quarantine guidelines in Arkansas

Hutchinson also gave the state an update on the school quarantine guidelines. But spokeswoman Katie White said that the Health Department is still finalizing the details of the new protocols.

According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Health Department typically requires people within six feet of a COVID-19 positive individual within 15 minutes or longer within 24 hours to quarantine for 14 days.

But the State Department of Education guidelines for school districts exempt vaccinated individuals to quarantine unless they develop symptoms.

Students and employees are not required to quarantine if they and the infected person were both wearing a mask during their encounter.

During this week's conference, Hutchinson said that students would not have to quarantine if they subject themselves to rapid testing and the results come back negative.

Another option is to allow schools not to quarantine if at least 70 percent of the staff and students are fully vaccinated.

Arkansas governor and his wife received Pfizer booster shots

Meanwhile, Hutchinson and his wife, Susan Hutchinson, received their Pfizer booster shot during this week's conference. Health Secretary Jose Romero also received his booster shot, according to US News.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently recommended boosters for individuals who received their second vaccine dose at least six months ago and are aged 65 and up.

Residents of long-term care facilities and individuals aged 50 to 64 are also encouraged to get their booster shots since they are at a higher risk of contracting the deadly virus.