COVID-19 in Arkansas: A Weekly Snapshot, Nov. 7”’13, 2020

This week, Arkansas had six days of over 1,000 new cases and set another new-case record of 2,312 today (Nov. 13). In a news conference today, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced the creation of a winter COVID task force focused on supporting hospitals and the authorization of 30 National Guard members to help with case investigation and contact tracing.

On Thursday, ACHI’s Health Policy Board issued a list of recommended steps that Arkansas families can take to prevent Thanksgiving celebrations from increasing the spread of COVID-19.

According to the Arkansas Department of Health’s Educational Institutions Report released Thursday, there are 1,864 active cases among staff members, students, and teachers in the state’s public school districts. Total positive cases increased by 715 since the Monday report to 11,052, of which 7,714 are student cases.

At colleges and universities, there are 641 active cases. The three institutions with the highest numbers of active cases are:

• University of Arkansas in Fayetteville with 108 cases
• University of Central Arkansas at Conway with 64 cases
• Harding State University at Searcy with 52 cases

Total positive cases increased by 206 since the Monday report to 6,987 cases. Of these, 5,494 are student cases.

On Nov. 8, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that 28 high school football teams decided not to participate in the playoffs, which start tonight. Some of the known football cancellations announced this week due to COVID-19 include:

• Earle and Fordyce
• Westside and East Poinsette County
• Bentonville West and Little Rock Catholic

On our COVID-19 in Arkansas page this week, all the data in the COVID-19: Local Data dashboard have been updated through Monday, Nov. 9. Some key data points:

By School District

There are 48 school districts in the red zone this week as of Nov. 9. Twenty-two school districts are new to the red zone this week, while 26 districts remain in the red zone from the prior week. School districts in the red zone have 50 or more new known infections per 10,000 residents in the community during a 14-day period. Among the school districts in the red zone, five had 100 or more new infections per 10,000 residents, or at least 1% of district residents: Armorel, Earle, Hillcrest, Manila, and White County Central.

The districts in the red zone are:

• Hillcrest: 123 new known infections per 10K residents
• Earle: 115 new known infections per 10K residents
• Manila: 114 new known infections per 10K residents
• Armorel: 113 new known infections per 10K residents
• White County Central: 106 new known infections per 10K residents
• Marked Tree: 95 new known infections per 10K residents
• Paragould: 83 new known infections per 10K residents
• Bay: 82 new known infections per 10K residents
• DeQueen: 77 new known infections per 10K residents
• Nettleton: 74 new known infections per 10K residents
• Piggott: 73 new known infections per 10K residents
• Greene County Tech: 73 new known infections per 10K residents
• Westside Consolidated: 69 new known infections per 10K residents
• Hampton: 69 new known infections per 10K residents
• Des Arc: 69 new known infections per 10K residents
• Blevins: 67 new known infections per 10K residents
• Valley View: 66 new known infections per 10K residents
• East Poinsett County: 66 new known infections per 10K residents
• Riverside: 64 new known infections per 10K residents
• Jonesboro: 63 new known infections per 10K residents
• Cedar Ridge: 63 new known infections per 10K residents
• Lafayette County: 61 new known infections per 10K residents
• Jackson County: 61 new known infections per 10K residents
• Nashville: 60 new known infections per 10K residents
• Buffalo Island Central: 60 new known infections per 10K residents
• Brinkley: 60 new known infections per 10K residents
• Blytheville: 59 new known infections per 10K residents
• Pangburn: 58 new known infections per 10K residents
• Horatio: 57 new known infections per 10K residents
• Trumann: 56 new known infections per 10K residents
• Brookland: 56 new known infections per 10K residents
• Marmaduke: 55 new known infections per 10K residents
• Rector: 54 new known infections per 10K residents
• Fort Smith: 54 new known infections per 10K residents
• Lavaca: 53 new known infections per 10K residents
• Cossatot River: 53 new known infections per 10K residents
• Prescott: 52 new known infections per 10K residents
• Ouachita: 52 new known infections per 10K residents
• Fouke: 52 new known infections per 10K residents
• Newport: 51 new known infections per 10K residents
• Mammoth Spring: 51 new known infections per 10K residents
• Cleveland County: 51 new known infections per 10K residents
• Cedarville: 51 new known infections per 10K residents
• Springdale: 50 new known infections per 10K residents
• Searcy: 50 new known infections per 10K residents
• Marion: 50 new known infections per 10K residents
• Barton-Lexa: 50 new known infections per 10K residents
• Alma: 50 new known infections per 10K residents

Eighteen high schools in red-zone school districts have scheduled football games tonight (Nov. 13). Two of these schools are playing each other.