City reopens public parks for residents to enjoy
Public parks in Forrest City have been reopened for public use after being closed for the past year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Forrest City Mayor Cedric Williams said all of the playground equipment that had been removed when the pandemic hit has been put back up.
Parks and recreation director Kenneth Taylor said each park now has basketball goals as well as other playground equipment, such as swings, up and ready for area residents and visitors.
"The inside court and everything is wide open in all of our parks,” said Taylor.
Williams and other state officials continue to ask residents to keep in mind safe Covid practices – even if they are vaccinated – if social distancing isn't possible.
The city has hosted several vaccination clinics for area residents, but there are currently none scheduled.
"There are still several options for residents who want the vaccination to do so, however," said Williams, who pointed to local pharmacies as one place to get the vaccination.
(Continued from Page 1) "We are having a lot of our area students wanting the vaccine but we don't have the Pfizer vaccination available in our area as of yet," said Williams.
Pfizer, so far, is the only Covid-19 vaccination marked safe for children 16 and older.
According to reports, only 24% of Arkansans have been fully vaccinated, with 30% of those being residents who are 16 and older. The CDC reports that 35% of the state's population has been partially vaccinated.
Arkansas health officials on Tuesday reported 229 new cases of the virus and five new Covid19-related deaths. Thirty-nine new cases were added to the state’s 1,844 active Covid cases. Of those, 157 required hospitalization, 13 fewer than Monday.