‘This is about health’
Teen Challenge leaders recall COVID outbreak
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise around the country, Tim Culbreth, executive director of Adult and Teen Challenge of Arkansas, recently recounted his experience dealing with an outbreak of the virus on campus back in the spring.
ATCA, located on Walnut Valley Road in northern Garland County, is a nonprofit that has the mission of providing “residential faith-based help for those who struggle with life-controlling problems, such as addiction,” according to its website.
Nearly half of the people on campus, Culbreth included, were infected with the virus. The campus quarantined for around three weeks in April, ending on May 1. It didn’t allow new students for about a month and a half afterward.
The Associated Press reports the number of
Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 hit an alltime high in the U.S. on
Thursday at 100,667, citing the COVID Tracking Project. That figure has more than doubled over the past month, while new daily cases are averaging 210,000 and deaths are averaging 1,800 per day, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
“This is about health. It’s not about viewpoints or politics, it’s about being safe and our health,” said Culbreth. “And you don’t know how a person
will react to the virus. It can be mild. They could actually probably have it and get over it and not realize they ever had it. To me that’s one of the scariest things, cause then there’s no telling who you’ve been able to spread it around with. But it is something to be respected and realize that ‘Hey, I could have a mild symptom or no symptoms and the next person can really struggle.’”
Watch the video on the newspaper’s website for personal accounts of how the staff handled the outbreak, and its lingering effects.
The Sentinel-Record’s original report on the outbreak can be found at https://www.hotsr.com/ news/2020/apr/ 18/26-test-positive-for-covid-19at-adult-/