Call to action issued Friday to Arkansans to recognize omicron threat

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) on Friday issued a call to action to Arkansans, especially school, municipal, business and faith leaders, to recognize the short-term threat posed by the fast-spreading omicron COVID-19 variant.

ACHI President and CEO Dr. Joe Thompson says, “Omicron is spreading uncontrolled across our state, posing a serious health threat to those who are not vaccinated and boosted. The sheer number of people becoming infected is a threat to our healthcare system. We expect and hope that the current surge will be short-lived, but for the next three weeks we call on Arkansans to take action to fight this highly infectious variant.”ACHIs recommendations for the next three weeks are:

• Recognize the short-term threat from the omicron variant;
• Cease public-facing activities short-term;
• Limit in-person meetings and gatherings and consider going virtual;
• Redouble efforts on hygiene, distancing and ventilation;
• Enable work-from-home options for employees, with expectation of isolation strategies;
• Require masking indoors or in crowded settings;
•Emphasize the importance of vaccines, including booster shots; and
• Support local school, municipal, business and faith leaders in these decisions.

“I fear that some may be underestimating the threat from omicron because they have heard that its effects are milder than those caused by the delta variant,” Thompson says. “It does appear from early data that omicron is not as likely as delta to cause severe pneumonia; nevertheless, omicron is a serious health threat for the unprotected.”

ACHI issued the call to action following three consecutive days of record-high new daily COVID-19 case counts in Arkansas. The Arkansas Department of Health reported 6,562 new cases on Tuesday, 7,488 on Wednesday and 7,787 on Thursday. In just the first six days of this new year, 467 Arkansans were hospitalized with COVID-19 – with current hospitalizations increasing by 73 on Thursday, the largest one-day increase since September – and, unfortunately, there were 130 reported deaths.

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