Leaders plan to urge care after order lifts
Local leaders say they will continue to encourage Pine Bluff residents to take precautions in public places — like wearing masks and social distancing — when the state lifts its mask mandate Wednesday.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchison said Tuesday that he expected Arkansas’ mandate to end March 31, since the state has met the threshold that he set for new cases and hospitalizations.
In a Sunday interview on CNN, Hutchinson said the goals of a positivity rate of 10% or lower and fewer than 750 hospitalizations are being met.
“I set some goals, and we’re making those goals,” he said. “Common sense is going to replace mandates, and I think that’s where we are right now.”
Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington said the city will continue to encourage all residents to wear masks and social distance, even if they have been vaccinated.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — because scientists are still learning how well vaccines prevent the spread of the virus — people who have been fully vaccinated against covid-19 should keep taking precautions in
public places. Those include wearing masks, staying 6 feet apart from others, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces, and washing hands often.
The director of the CDC urged Americans to “double down” on prevention measures, even as some states are lifting mask mandates.
“I know the idea of relaxing mask-wearing and getting back to everyday activities is appealing, but we’re not there yet,” Rochelle P. Walensky said during a White House covid-19 response team briefing last week. “We have seen this movie before. When prevention measures, like mask mandates, are rolled back, cases go up.”
Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods said he would encourage his deputies to wear their masks while protecting and serving.
“I still feel like we’re still early in our stages, even though we are seeing declining numbers across the state,” Woods said. “I still think on a local level we still should maintain until we get more people vaccinated. I still think we are premature to make a decision to relax at this time.”
As of Thursday, Jefferson County has 37 active covid-19 cases. Approximately 15 percent of the Arkansas population ages 16 and older have been fully vaccinated, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.
Medical experts say studies show that the vaccines are effective at keeping someone from getting covid-19 and will help keep the person from getting seriously ill if he should contract covid-19.
According to the CDC, covid-19 vaccines teach immune systems to recognize and fight the virus that causes covid-19.
It typically takes two weeks after vaccination for the body to build protection (immunity) against the virus, meaning it is possible for a person to get covid-19 before or just after a vaccination and then get sick because the vaccine did not have enough time to provide protection.
People are considered fully protected two weeks after their second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, or two weeks after the single-dose Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine.
Early data show that the vaccines help keep people who have covid-19 but exhibit no symptoms from spreading the virus, but scientists are learning more as more people get vaccinated.
Washington said she will encourage the continued precautions in accordance with what public health experts are advising.
“For me being vaccinated, I will still utilize the same precaution before vaccinations were available,” Woods said. “It’s the key to reducing the numbers and getting back to a place of normalcy.”
When residents were asked if they would continue to wear masks after the mandate is lifted, the vast majority said they would.
“We have really just started getting the vaccine,” Bobbie Owens said. “We need to see how well things are going overall first. Now masks will be off for so many who never wanted them on.”
Mary Beth Farrester said she has already had both immunizations but will continue to wear a mask. Marsh Morris said she will continue to wear her mask also but will not bash anyone who doesn’t.
“That’s our freedom of choice, and it’s OK if yours is different from mine,” she said.
Hutchinson said Tuesday that the state was way below the criteria for the mask mandate to be lifted, and everyone can expect it to happen on March 31.
“We’ve got some more work to do to make sure we can articulate it in the right way and have the appropriate guidance for our cities, for our employers, for our school systems, and we are meeting on that and want to finalize that by next Tuesday,” Gov. Hutchinson said.
As far as capacity limits on businesses and large gatherings, those will now be recommendations and not enforceable by law.
Hutchinson said the goal is to give businesses more flexibility to better fit with their day-to-day operations.
“I just think, even vaccinated, that doesn’t give me a reason to stop wearing the mask,” said Woods. “Not only am I protecting myself but more importantly protecting others who may not have been vaccinated.”