Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson will visit the Twin Lakes Area Monday to promote area residents getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
Hutchinson is scheduled to appear in Mountain Home midday to hold the latest in his series of community COVID conversations. The governor is scheduled to hold the town hall-style event at 11:30 at Vada Sheid Community Development Center on the campus of Arkansas State University-Mountain Home. The event will be broadcast on KTLO-FM 97.9.
The state’s chief executive is also scheduled to visit Dumas on Tuesday, Heber Springs on Wednesday and Siloam Springs on Friday to continue promoting COVID vaccinations and providing questions the public may have about them.
Hutchinson 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 Friday afternoon it was tracking 431 COVID cases in Baxter County. The county had 196 cases on July 1 and just 10 cases 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 Wednesday that 87.8% of its COVID-19 inpatients since March 1 have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus that causes COVID.
In Baxter County, 33.3% of the population ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID, with another 6.6% partially immunized. Statewide, 40.1% of the population is fully vaccinated and another 10.5% is partially immunized. Nationwide, 49% of the population has been vaccinated against COVID, with another 8% being partially immunized.
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