Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
State’s covid deaths up by 27
Campuses’ rising cases raise alarm
Arkansas’ health secretary continued to express concern about a growing number of coronavirus cases on college campuses on Wednesday as the state’s official death toll from the coronavirus rose by 27, setting a record for a one-day increase.
The state’s count of confirmed virus cases rose by 615, the largest increase so far this week.
“We are seeing more cases in and on campuses across the state,” Health Secretary Jose Romero said at Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s near-daily news conference on the pandemic.
He urged students to take precautions such as wearing masks, washing their hands, and avoiding large crowds and parties.
“I realize that part of college life is the socialization that goes on, but in today’s environment, it is important that you keep in mind the social responsibility that you bear to the entire society,” Romero said.
State officials also said Wednesday that a total of 2,050 infections of Arkansans have been identified through antigen tests since the first such tests were performed
in the state in June.
Those tests are generally quicker but less sensitive than the molecular tests used to identify the cases included in the state’s total count of confirmed cases.
Infections identified solely through antigen will be reported separately as “probable” cases, Department of Health officials said.
The infections identified through antigen tests include 156 Arkansans whose tests were positive on Tuesday, Hutchinson said.
Many of those results, Hutchinson said, were from Washington County and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, which has two antigen testing machines provided by the Health Department.
He said the state will soon begin regularly reporting the results of antigen tests, in addition to the molecular tests, known as polymerase chain reaction, or PCR tests, to the public and U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
“This is not something that every state is doing, but I think they will gradually do that as we increase our use of antigen tests,” Hutchinson said.
The number of people hospitalized in the state with covid-19 rose on Wednesday by 12, to 435, while the number of patients on ventilators rose by five, to 90.
The state’s death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Health Department, rose to 841, while its cumulative count of cases identified through PCR tests rose to 62,112.
The number of cases in the state that were considered active fell by 26, to 5,010, as a result of the deaths and 614 Arkansans who were newly classified as having recovered.
Romero said 13 of the deaths added to the state’s total happened more than three weeks ago, but weren’t immediately reported.
One happened in May, four each were from June and July and four were from early August, he said.
Five of the deaths were among nursing home residents, bringing the total number of such deaths to 284.
UA CASES
Data released Wednesday by the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville showed an accelerating rate of new covid-19 cases despite a majority of classes being held online and guidelines requiring face coverings indoors.
A two-day total of 185 new covid-19 positive test results over Monday and Tuesday brought the number of active cases to 399 among individuals who possibly have been on the UA campus this fall.
The totals did not include any positive results from a drive-thru testing event at UA, geared primarily toward students, that started Tuesday and will wrap up today.
The most recent Health Department report on educational institutions, released Monday, listed nine colleges and universities as having at least five active covid-19 cases, with the report giving lower numbers than what some universities were reporting on their websites.
Hutchinson said “we’re immediately doing increased mass testing” as part of the response to surging campus cases.
He said it’s expected that over the next few days more than 1,000 tests of college students from “across the state” will be coming in, and “that enables us to hopefully get ahead of the curve and to be able to stall any upstart in virus on campus.”
UA’s return-to-campus plan brought back students to live in residence halls and Greek houses while about 59% of class sections are being taught remotely, a university spokesman said last week.
UA Chancellor Joe Steinmetz in a text message referred to getting more testing data on various types of groups, including fraternal groups and registered student organizations, also known as RSOs.
As testing ramps up, UA will “continue to keep an eye on testing results from members of organizations on campus including Greek, RSOs, university housing etc.,” Steinmetz said.
University groups with individuals testing positive for covid-19 are being strongly encouraged by UA to suspend in-person activities and have all members get tested even if they have no symptoms, a university spokesman said earlier this week.
The campus, which had fall classes begin Aug. 24, saw rapidly increasing numbers of new positive case results beginning late last week and over the weekend.
A UA spokesman on Wednesday described the university’s approach to testing.
“As additional testing supplies and resources have become available, the university has been encouraging asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals to be tested,” Mark Rushing, UA’s associate vice chancellor for university relations, said in an email.
About 585 tests were done Wednesday at the UA drive-thru testing clinic, a state Department of Health spokesman said.
UA’s campus housing department has pushed back the date for allowing dorm room visitors to at least Sept. 23.
Students were told to begin the year without visitors, but previously informed that on Tuesday the prohibition would be loosened to allow other students and immediate family members to visit, with one visitor per person and face coverings worn.
Over Monday and Tuesday, UA tallied 151 self-reported positive test results and also listed a rise in the positivity rate for testing done on-campus.
A total of 32 positive test results from Monday and Tuesday came from a total of 117 on-campus tests, according to a Wednesday afternoon update.
The numbers worked out to a positivity rate of 27%, an increase over past results.
For all on-campus tests since Aug. 10, UA listed, as of early Wednesday afternoon, a positivity rate of 4.7% out of 1,682 total tests.
“Any increase in the positivity rate is concerning but because day-to-day testing numbers will differ due to multiple factors including the number of symptomatic individuals being tested on any given day, we analyze both small batches of daily testing as well as longer term trends in the number of
positive cases and positivity rates,” Rushing said in an email.
ON THE DASHBOARD
The UA “dashboard” site later on Wednesday was updated to add in available data on the number of drive-thru tests, but did not update with any positive results from those tests. However, this change resulted in a lower positivity rate as reported on the site.
Rushing said that while tests done Tuesday were added to the data later Wednesday, there will be a lag to include the results.
The format of the “dashboard” also changed Wednesday to eliminate the totals for negative results.
CLASSES QUARANTINED
Meanwhile, a report from the state Department of Education listed a first-grade class in Sheridan and a special-education class in Nashville as among those that have had to shift to all-online instruction in response to coronavirus concerns.
In Sheridan, school district spokeswoman Lauren Goins said the teacher and students were required to quarantine for 14 days as a result of a report of a positive test result on Monday.
Similar concerns prompted the Nashville School District class’ shift, Superintendent Douglas Graham said.
“We sent one teacher, two aides and six students home to be quarantined, so obviously they had to go to virtual with them,” he said.
That virtual instruction will continue until the children and adults complete 14 days of quarantine, said Graham, who was among some eight Nashville School District staff members and at least three spouses to suffer from covid-19 this past June.
At that time Graham was hospitalized, as was an assistant superintendent.
Additionally, Graham said Wednesday, three classrooms of children and their teachers and aides in Arkansas Better Chance prekindergarten center in Nashville have been sent home for 14-days of quarantine.
The Little Rock School District had no new cases of covid-19 reported in the 24-hours between 3 p.m. Tuesday and 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Six staff members and one student went into quarantine in that time period. The employees were from Rockefeller, Meadowcliff, Cloverdale and Washington schools, with three being from Washington. The student is from Parkview.
According to a revised report provided by the Health Department on Wednesday, there were cumulative totals of 1,850 covid cases in public schools, 106 cases in private schools, and 556 cases in colleges and universities between June 15 and Monday.
Those totals are all higher than the ones the department initially reported on Monday.
In the case of the public schools, the number of cumulative covid cases among students and employees listed in the corrected report increased by more than 600. Among colleges and universities, the number of cases increased by almost 200.
Health Department spokesman Gavin Lesnick said Wednesday that there was data missing in the section of Monday’s original report that focused on covid cases in schools and colleges/universities that had fewer than five active cases.
The state report lists data for each of the 30 public school districts and charter schools that have had five or more cases — totaling 659 — since June 15.
School districts, private schools and colleges/universities with fewer than five cases are not singled out by name in an effort to protect patient identities, according to the state report.
Those unnamed school districts had a cumulative total of 1,191 covid-19 cases since June 15. The unnamed private schools had 106 cases, and colleges and universities had 300 cases, according to the revised report.
CASES BY COUNTY
The confirmed cases added to the state’s total on Wednesday included 67 in Washington County, 62 in Pulaski County, 60 in Benton County, 49 in Craighead County, 26 in Garland County, 21 in Saline County and 20 in Mississippi County.
The cumulative number of Arkansans who have been hospitalized with the virus rose by 35, to 4,341, while the number who have ever been on a ventilator increased by two, to 556.
DEFINITION CHANGE
State Epidemiologist Jennifer Dillaha said the Health Department had been working on a way to report the results of antigen testing in the state when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in response to a recommendation by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, last month revised its definition of a “probable” coronavirus case.
Previously, the definition included a patient with a positive antigen test result who also had symptoms of covid-19 or possible exposure to the virus, such as contact with an infected person.
Under the revised definition, a positive antigen test result alone is enough to classify a patient as a “probable” case.
If no test was performed, people whose death certificate lists the coronavirus as the cause of death or who had symptoms of the virus and contact with someone who tested positive are also considered a positive case.
A positive result from a more sensitive PCR test is still needed to classify a patient as a “confirmed” coronavirus case.
As of Wednesday, the Health Department reported that the state had 378 probable cases in addition to 62,112 confirmed cases, for a total of 62,490 confirmed or probable cases.
The total number of probable cases is lower than the positive antigen test results because some people who receive a positive result from antigen testing later get a confirmatory PCR test.
If that test is positive, the person is considered a confirmed case rather than a probable case.
“In the beginning when the antigen tests first came out, many people had confirmatory PCR tests done, and if those PCR tests were positive, then they would have been classified as a confirmed case,” Dillaha said.
“Nowadays we have enough experience with the antigen tests to know that the positive result is reliable, so a confirmatory test for a positive result is not necessary.”
“However we know that if a person has symptoms and their antigen test is negative, then it could be a false negative, so confirmatory PCR test for a negative antigen test is needed.”
PROBABLE IS REAL
She emphasized that the Health Department investigates infections identified through antigen tests the same way it does those confirmed through PCR tests.
“It’s easy for people to think since we use the word probable that maybe it’s a case, maybe it isn’t, but that’s not how we think of it,” Dillaha said.
“It is a real case in the same way that a PCR is real case and the Arkansas Department of Health does case investigation and contact tracing for all probable cases.”
Mike Cima, the Health Department’s chief epidemiologist and associate director for science, said the department is working on integrating information on probable cases into its online dashboard of data on the coronavirus.
SCHOOL MEALS
Hutchinson also announced Wednesday that the state Education Department is opting into the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s offer earlier this week to waive several requirements of the federal school breakfast and lunch program.
As a result “school students can all be served meals free of cost through the end of the year,” Hutchinson said.
Education Secretary Johnny Key said the extended waivers are good through Dec. 31 and will give school districts not only the flexibility to serve the school meals to all students at no cost to them, but “allow those meals to be served outside of the normally required group settings and meal times.”
Additionally the waivers will allow parents and guardians to pick up meals for their children, he said.
“Those are important for both the on-site students as well as for the students who have opted for virtual instruction,” Key said.
The waivers will provide an estimated $80 million in reimbursements to the state for school meals by year’s end, Key said.
State guidance to school districts on using the federal waivers had not been issued as of Wednesday evening. However, Key said that districts that choose to participate will be able to claim all students at the free meal rate for those meals that qualify for reimbursement by the federal government.
“Many of our families who might not qualify for free meals are still going through a tough time and worry about how to keep food on the table,” Key said. “Now their children have one less thing to worry about as they adjust to the evolving in-school and remote learning scenarios. These waivers also eliminate a massive administrative burden on our school nutrition staffs, allowing them to focus on serving meals to their students.”
Key urged, however, that schools continue to ask parents to submit meal applications to their schools because family income levels reported on those forms affect other state and federal funding sources for schools.
He said that 89 percent of Arkansas’ more than 250 school districts and charter school systems took advantage of similar USDA school meal waivers last March through May and, as a result, were able to provide meals to their students even as schools were closed to on-site instruction.
“That’s going to be super,” Graham, the Nashville School District superintendent, said about the waivers. “That’s a great thing that is getting ready to happen for a lot of kids across the state and specifically for the ones here in Nashville.”