GC officials eager to start Phase 2
The Garland County Quorum Court convened in person Monday night for the first time since March, a sign of the county’s confidence in its readiness for a broader reopening of the local economy.
Earlier that day, Dr. Gene Shelby, the county’s health officer, told the task force organizing the local response to the coronavirus that the county is ready to start the second phase of lifting restrictions on businesses and social activities.
“I really do based on our numbers the last few weeks,” Shelby, speaking about his belief in the county’s readiness, said Tuesday. “We’ve basically been flat. The fact we hadn’t seen any spike in that period, and that our positivity rate is around 1% to 1.3%, and that’s been really consistent. I really feel the businesses in Garland County are doing what they’re supposed to, and I think the citizens in Garland County are, too. I think we would be eligible for Phase 2.”
Excluding the eight new cases reported Tuesday, the county’s highest single-day increase in two months, the county would meet both the gross and rate criteria the White House Guidelines for Opening Up America
Again recommended for states considering a phased reopening of their economies. Its positivity rate since the pandemic began in March has been at about 3% for more than a week, down from more than 9% in late March and 4% in early May.
Prior to Tuesday, the county’s rolling seven-day average of new cases was below one for 19 straight days. Tuesday’s new cases raised the moving average to two.
“I think our statistics we have at this point, and the effort that’s being made county wide, would lend to that,” County Judge Darryl Mahoney said of the county’s readiness for Phase 2. “We’ve got some good numbers.”
Gov. Asa Hutchinson will make an announcement today on when and how the state will start Phase 2. Last week he hinted that the second phase, which would allow restaurants, personal care services, gyms and outdoor venues to expand operations, could be implemented on a regional basis.
Mahoney said restaurants will struggle under current restrictions limiting them to one-third capacity. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ preliminary report for April employment activity in the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area, the local economy lost 5,700 jobs relative to the 40,100 nonfarm jobs reported last April.
The percent of unemployed workers increased more than 200% from March’s rate, reaching 15.3% in Garland County. Mahoney speculated that the hospitality industry accounted for many of the lost jobs. Initiating Phase 2 is critical to bringing them back, he said, and generating sales tax revenues that support public services.
“If you go in the restaurants now and you sit down and you see what a third capacity actually looks like, it would be very difficult for them to maintain an existence for any length of time,” he said. “They’re doing a great job of cleaning, making sure you have a mask on when you come in. The ones I’ve been to have been on the mark with the governor’s directives.”
Mahoney said anecdotal reports he has received suggest that the hospitality industry is starting to rebound from March and April’s downturn.
“A few friends mentioned everywhere they went to eat over the past weekend had a 45-minute waiting list,” he said. “That’s good news in one aspect, but it’s also a sign that in order to allow these businesses to recover fully we’re going to have to study moving on to Phase 2 as soon as the governor will allow us.”
The county has been among the state’s leaders in per capita testing, but testing has slowed this month. The county had more than 57 results per day during the second half of April and more than 62 per day in May. The number fell to 46 during the first eight days of June. The lower numbers coincide with the state’s goal to do 120,000 tests in June, a number equaling 4% of its population.
“We had 311 tests from people in Garland County last week,” Shelby said. “That was down from some of the previous weeks. It’s important to let people know testing is still available.”
Shelby said testing numbers may be higher, as some people from outside the county could have come here to get tested. Testing numbers provided by the Arkansas Department of Health are reported by residency, not where the test specimen was collected.
Lodging establishments have been provided a list of the county’s seven testing sites to give guests.
“We probably did more than 311 because we were testing people who weren’t Garland County residents,” Shelby said.
The lack of a spike in new infections after the Memorial Day weekend indicated that visitors are not spreading the virus locally, he said.
“Chances are that there are so many asymptomatic positives that they would be leaving the virus in the county, and we would see it spike after they left,” he said. “The Memorial Day weekend was a pretty busy weekend in Hot Springs. We’re two and a half weeks out from that and have not seen any uptick in our positives.” Quorum court
All 13 justices of the peace attended Monday night’s quorum court meeting, convening in the county courtroom for the first time since March.
“It was the same protocol as always when you enter the courthouse,” Mahoney said. “We took their temperature. We make them wear a mask. We spaced them out every third seat at the table. Those who can’t fit there we put out in the pews.”
Mahoney said poor internet connectivity for JPs in rural Garland County made it difficult to hold virtual meetings. He decided the county’s legislative body would meet in person Monday after technology issues plagued the Finance Committee’s virtual meeting a week earlier.
“We’ve got some JPs who are in some extremely rural areas where the internet is pretty weak,” he said. “We had a lot of trouble conversing. We had some get kicked off. It was a struggle. I asked the Finance Committee if they would feel comfortable meeting in person, and they all agreed that they would. When we decided to meet in person this week everyone was on board.
“We had a full house last night. Everybody wore their mask when they got in place, took their mask off when we conducted business. When we adjourned they put their mask on and left again. It worked out well.”