Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Thursday that he was calling the Arkansas Legislature back to Little Rock to discuss amending a state law prohibiting local school districts from requiring students to wear face masks.The governor also announced Thursday he was declaring a public health emergency over the state’s surging COVID-19 numbers. That declaration went into effect Thursday and will be in place for 60 days.
The Arkansas Department of Health reported Thursday that there were 17,232 active COVID cases in the state, including 2,843 cases being reported in the last 24 hours. The increase in cases has been blamed on the rapid-spreading delta variant and the state’s low vaccination rate.
Vaccines are available to anyone over the age of 18. The Pfizer/BioNTech version of the vaccine has been approved for use in those ages 12 and older.
Hutchinson said that with schools scheduled to resume next month, the health and safety of those under the age of 12 must be considered.
Act 1002, which went into effect on July 1, prohibits local or state governments from mandating mask use. The legislation applies to school districts but does not apply to private businesses or state-owned or state-controlled healthcare facilities, state prisons or facilities operated by the Division of Youth Services.
Hutchinson said the Legislature would meet in special session possibly next week to discuss amending the law to allow each school district to make its own mask policies.
The governor talks about the prospects for the special session.
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Hutchinson says that the special session is about protecting students, not about mask mandates.
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The governor says any modifications to Act 1002 would not affect private business.
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As the state’s COVID numbers have spiked over the past two months, available bedspace in the state’s hospitals has become almost nonexistent.
Hutchinson said he issued the emergency declaration so Arkansas could seek assistance from neighboring states in treating and housing the state’s COVID patients. The emergency declaration will also allow the Health Department to ease its licensing requirements for retired and out-of-state healthcare workers, letting the state put more workers back into hospital settings faster.
The state will also receive assistance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ surge response team, which will meet with state leaders and healthcare providers about expanding the amount of bedspace available for the state’s COVID patients.
Thursday’s emergency declaration over COVID was the second of its kind issued by Hutchinson. He first issued an emergency health declaration in response to the COVID pandemic on March 11, 2020, and that emergency order was extended multiple times and expired at the end of April.
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