19 SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN RED, PURPLE ZONES ON ACHI’S MAP FOR NEW COVID-19 INFECTIONS

LITTLE ROCK ― Nineteen Arkansas public school districts have COVID-19 infection rates of 50 or more new known infections per 10,000 district residents over a 14-day period, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement said Thursday, citing its analysis of Arkansas Department of Health data current as of Monday.

One of those 19 districts, Salem, has an infection rate of more than 100 new known infections per 10,000 district residents over a 14-day period, the nonpartisan health policy center said.

ACHI’s map showing COVID-19 infection rates in school districts ― available at achi.net/covid19 ― uses the following color key: 0 to 9 new known infections per 10,000 residents over 14 days, dark green; 10 to 19 infections per 10K residents, light green; 20 to 29 infections per 10K residents, yellow; 30 to 49 infections per 10K residents, orange; 50 to 99 infections per 10K residents, red; and 100 or more infections per 10K residents, purple.

ACHI did not update its COVID-19 dashboard on the Thanksgiving holiday, but it said Thursday that last week 21 districts had COVID-19 infection rates of 50 or more new known infections per 10,000 district residents over a 14-day period. Nineteen districts were in the “red zone” and two were in the “purple zone” last week. The dashboard has been updated to include last week’s data in the trend tables.

Though the number of red and purple districts this week is slightly lower than last week’s number, it is more than double the number from the week of Nov. 15, when eight districts were in the red zone and none were in the purple zone. No districts were in red or purple the week of Nov. 8.

As of Monday, the following 19 school districts had infection rates of at least 50 new known infections per 10,000 district residents over the previous 14 days. An asterisk indicates that a district is new to the list this week.

Districts in the red zone this week are:

o Batesville
o Bradford
o Calico Rock
o Cave City
o Cedar Ridge
o Concord
o Dierks*
o Greenbrier*
o Huntsville
o Izard County Consolidated
o Mammoth Spring
o Midland
o Mountain View
o Salem ― rate of 100 or more new known infections per 10K residents
o Sloan-Hendrix
o Southside
o Valley Springs*
o White County Central
o Yellville-Summit

The color-shading of a district is based on infections among community residents living within the geographical boundaries of each school district and not on cases among school employees and students.

Known infections reported by ACHI include confirmed and probable cases. Probable cases are based on verbal reporting and antigen test results, as identified by the Department of Health.

Infection rates and counts are not shown for districts with fewer than five reported infections to reduce the possibility of identifying individuals. School district counts do not include infections among incarcerated populations, in nursing homes, or in human development centers.

ACHI also updated the maps and tables on its website displaying vaccination rates by public school district, community, and ZIP code, using Department of Health data current as of Monday. Twelve school districts have achieved vaccination rates of at least 50% of district residents, but no district has yet reached a 60% vaccination rate.

ACHI is a nonpartisan, independent health policy center that serves as a catalyst for improving the health of all Arkansans through evidence-based research, public issue advocacy, and collaborative program development.

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