Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson will visit Mountain Home next week to talk to residents about being vaccinated against COVID-19.
Hutchinson is scheduled to visit the Twin Lakes Area midday Monday at 11:30 as part of his series of community COVID conversations. The governor earlier this month announced a statewide tour of town halls aimed at promoting the COVID vaccines.
He is also scheduled to visit Dumas on Tuesday, Heber Springs on Wednesday and Siloam Springs on Friday. Hutchinson’s press team said venues for the visits will be announced later this week.
The governor said, “It’s critical we continue to have these discussions around Arkansas to ensure people have the facts and science behind these vaccines. The testimony from local health care professionals, community leaders, and former COVID patients has been beneficial in combating misinformation.”
The number of COVID-19 cases in the Twin Lakes Area has spiked in the past six weeks. The Arkansas Department of Health reports that Baxter County currently has 353 active COVID-19 cases. The county had 185 recognized cases on July 6 and had just 10 reported COVID cases roughly a month earlier on June 9.
Health officials have said the spike in cases, which is also being seen across southwest Missouri, is due to a lack of people being vaccinated against COVID-19 and the arrival of the fast-spreading delta variant first reported in India.
Baxter Regional Medical Center reported Friday that 90.2% of its COVID-19 inpatients since March 1 have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
In Baxter County, 32.8% of the population ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID, with another 5.8% partially immunized. Statewide, 40.2% of the population is fully vaccinated and another 9.8% is partially immunized.
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