Thank you for joining me for this discussion today and the announcements pertaining to the current state of emergency and the pandemic in Arkansas related to COVID-19. I'm joined today by Secretary Romero, of course of the Department of Health, as well as Dr. Ivy Pfeffer of the Department of Education. And as many of you know, the current public health emergency declaration expires on February 27, which is tomorrow. And I waited to evaluate where we are on the cases before making a decision on whether this current state of emergency should be extended, and obviously in consultation with our Secretary of Health. And so today, I'm announcing that I am extending the public health emergency for another 30 days until March 31. And this I would emphasize includes very important executive orders that allow us to have Medicaid reimbursement for telehealth. It allows business liability protection, remote learning, as well as other orders that have been necessary during this pandemic that the legislature is currently trying to put in bill form and into legislation. But that has not been accomplished yet. And so that is a part of the executive order that I'm signing today, the proclamation extending the health emergency. The reason that we are making this announcement today on the continuation emergency is that it is necessary, because we need to have these items still in place. But we've also made progress. And if you look at the first graph, we can just remind ourselves as what public behavior has done in terms of the progress on our cases, reducing the number of cases and the trend line that we have established, nothing is guaranteed for the future. But while we're still in an emergency, we have made progress. Progress is in addition to the reduced number of cases each day, we also have progress on our vaccination front with our efforts continuing but we've seen vaccinations reach out to our nursing homes and the elderly getting their vaccine vaccines as well. Teachers have had access to vaccines. And even though there's much more to do, we are on the right path, hospitalizations are down, positivity rate is below 10%. vaccinations are increasing and compliance with public health guidelines is at an all time high. And so based upon the progress based upon the statistics that we have, the the proclamation and I just have issued also includes a directive that the mask mandate will continue. But it will end on March 31, if certain public health goals are maintained. And if we look at the graph that I've presented, you can see that we've set specific criteria that is important to know how we move out of this pandemic and to a more normal life. And so if we can achieve a positivity rate of 10% or less, both PCR and antigen positivity, right, with at least 7500 testing specimens, on average, daily, then March 31, we can move away from the mask mandate, and it would become simply a guideline. And then the other you might say, well, we might not be testing that level. And so the second point is that if testing is below 7500, on an average, then we will look at the number of hospitalized patients based upon COVID. And if that's fewer than 750, hospitalized statewide for COVID-19, then we can use that as a trigger as well. And so it will stay in place to march 31. But we have an opportunity to see where our progress is and if we meet these meet these benchmarks, then the mask mandate will be lifted on March 31. In addition to that, being a part of the proclamation, I have another announcement which is effective immediately. All other public health directives that have been issued will be converted to public health guidelines. And let me show you You the difference. First of all between a directive and guidance, a directive is based on scientific data and a rational basis is a mandate like an order with a potential penalty after due process. everybody's familiar with that a guidance is based on scientific data in the same way is a strong recommendation based upon medical consensus. And so we are moving from directives to guidance. And the examples of where this would make a difference would be in restaurants, gyms, salons, indoor venues, and outdoor venues, will be subject to the same guidance that we've had in the form of directives. But it will be guidance. The reasons for this, as I've stated, we've made progress and the pandemic, businesses have adjusted and made changes to their business model in the interest of public health. And we've seen a steady decline in cases. Also, we've had increased public education, so the public knows exactly what is needed to stop the spread of the virus. They know where they can go safely, where they can't go safely, and they can make those judgments. And then the public needs to understand how we move out of this pandemic and into a more normal life. We are outlining how we get there. We don't get there immediately. But we get there through following guidelines we get there, through seeing the cases go down and continuing to be careful about our behavior. Let me emphasize that because we're changing these directives to guidelines does not mean that you're going to see a change in behavior, and I do not expect to see a change in behavior. For example, in state government, we will be telling our departments of government that they need to continue to follow the distancing the social distancing guidelines, we need to continue to follow the worrying of mask when you cannot social distance, in terms of our businesses, they are incentivized to follow the guidelines, because that gives them business liability protection, because the business liability protection is based upon following public health guidelines, and making a good faith effort to make sure everyone is safe in their employment. So they are incentivized. And so it does not mean a change in behavior that you will see. It does allow for some flexibility in indoor venue events. outdoors, there's more flexibility. If if the guideline doesn't make sense, we can work with the Department of Health. And if they seek that guidance, and keeping the public health in mind, there is a little bit more flexibility. You might ask the question, well, what if cases go up? First of all, the fact that we're changing directives to guidelines, does not change the necessity of quarantines and isolation. And those directives are still in place. Those are part of the emergency order. And that is part of the essential work of the Department of Health. But if cases go up, I would remind everybody that the emergency order remains in place. And so we can adjust as needed. The mask mandate remains in place through March 31. So we have an opportunity to continue to watch where the cases go over that period of time. And then if we see a dramatic change or necessity based upon the where we are with the virus, then the guidelines can be reinstated as mandates during the continuation of the emergency. And so those are three important announcements I wanted to make today, the continuation of the emergency. The mass mandate continues to march 31. With an opportunity for that to end if we meet certain public health criteria in beating the virus, and then our public health directives become guidelines. We don't expect a change in behavior, but we expect people to keep their nose to the grindstone so that we can get through this and back to a more normal life. But it paints a picture as to how we can get there. And with that to Dr. Moreau. I invite you for your comments.
Thank you, Governor. Thank you citizens. So our change today is based on the fact that we have shown significant progress with regard to number of cases and Number of hospitalizations. And I think we have a robust system in place to continue to monitor carefully. The Health Department has built a robust testing system that will allow us to track into the follow these use cases should they occur. I think that what merits bearing in mind as stated by the governor that this does not change, that should not change the behavior of the citizens of Arkansas. That is that we will still need to wear our masks, maintain social distancing, wash our hands, those are going to be essential in keeping this pandemic is affecting our state under control. A variable that has been entered into this equation has been the the variants, we are watching carefully for them, because we have not found them does not mean they are not here. Those variants spread more easily. And depending on the study, anywhere from 30 to 50 to 70% more efficiently and therefore can spread more quickly. They also have at least one of them may have a higher rate of mortality, morbidity than the current strain. So we're going to be watching that very carefully. These these changes have triggers in place that allow us to advise the governor regarding the need to re escalate based on what we're seeing. And one of them is of course, the CDC recommendation that testing positivity be below 10%. That will allow us to to pivot if necessary. And we have a fallback, which is if we're not testing, which I hope we will still continue to be testing use our our hospitalization rates. I want to stress the importance that this does not mean that we should not be advocating and encouraging all individuals to accept the Coronavirus, the COVID 19 vaccine, it is essential that we all receive the vaccine that is the only way we're going to move out of this epidemic of this pandemic. We need to protect ourselves and protect others with these vaccines. But I think that at the moment, that given where we are today, the the the steps put in place are practical, and can be monitored carefully. So I'll turn it back over to the governor. Thank you, Governor.
And let me do the last slide there, if I can, because one question will come up in reference to schools and the impact on school districts and Dr. Pfeffer is here to work through this as well. But most districts have adopted local board policies to acquire mass mandate and social distances. This will remain in place at the discretion of local boards. Of course, the man's mandate as a as an overall will stay in place at least through March 31. The guidance on capacity and social distances will allow for proms, athletic events, graduation, other extracurricular activities to be held. quarantine guidance will not change, and the identification of close contacts will stay in place. I know there'll be a lot of questions on the education side that they'll be working with both the Department of Health and the Department of Education, to answer any questions that might come up with that we'll be happy to take questions this morning.
If you if you still want people to follow the guidance, what's the benefit of making it voluntary, as opposed to mandatory
for the reasons that I stated, you can't keep directives in place forever. Where you have penalties where you have enforcement and you also have the temptations for citizens to be reporting on each other. And so this, you can't as I said, you can't have them in place forever. And at some point, we have to move away from those directives. And this gives us a safe path to move forward following the guidelines. And if a business believes that they can keep their customers safe and their employees safe, and they can they want to tweak it because the guidelines don't perfectly fit with their business, then there's more flexibility with the guidelines versus the directives. And there's not the enforcement and the potential for a fine
you know, these these really important safety measures?
a great question and if this if behavior changes and results in a increased spread of the virus, then we're going to know that by the increased number of cases the increase in the positivity rate, and very likely an increase in hospitalizations and so we're We're able to monitor that. And for that reason the emergency stays in place, the mask mandate stays in place for a time. And, you know, if citizen behavior does not protect us from the spread of the virus, then we might have to re engage with additional public health measures.
related to the measures in the legislature that are, you know, would curtail the emergency power.
what triggered this announcement today is the fact that the current emergency expires tomorrow. And so I had to make a decision. And obviously, legislative input has been valuable. And, and, you know, I hear what they say. But it is based upon simply the fact that the current emergency is expiring. And then secondly, the progress that we have made very dramatically in the last two or three weeks, indicates that we can safely make these adjustments,
said several times that we're watching for these variants, but you said you suspect that there are here. So does that not give you pause to start loosening restrictions at a time where a variant could come in and undo all this progress.
It is a factor. I've I suspect that the variant is here in Arkansas, we just have not detected it yet. I recognize that's a possibility it could be detected tomorrow. I've also watched other states that have the variant in place, and their cases continue to come down as well. And so that is a factor, we'll have to watch it. If we detect it. That doesn't automatically mean that all of the announcements I've made today are off. It just simply means that we've got to continue to watch our behavior and hopefully keep us on the same trend line. Are there any questions remotely, we may have a little bit of time this morning?
Hot Springs, and I have two questions, one on vaccines if you have any idea about when one beat will be fully opened? And then what does this mean to restaurants and bars if the legislature in essence, refunds fines is that encourage restaurants and bars to say, Okay, I can go back to 100%? Because there's no financial penalty?
Well, I mean, first of all, is that I hope the legislature will reconsider their movement to refund fines. That is been very fair, if that was made into law that would undermine our public health directives, our enforcement efforts, it would undermine confidence by the public. And so I would hope that does not become law. And if it gets to my desk, I would not sign it into law. The rest of your question is what incentives does bars and restaurants have. And as I said before, they have been provided business liability protection during this pandemic, if they follow the public health guidelines, and they act in good faith on that, and so there is an incentive for that good behavior. And for following the guidelines and protecting the customers. Obviously, it gives them some more flexibility. And they're not going to be subject to penalties. But they still have the incentive to do what is right, because consumers can make good judgments as to where they want to go and where it's safe. And secondly, it does give them a better opportunity for liability protection. Next question
on the donor.
Go ahead.
On when do you think one-B would be fully Oh,
I'm sorry, Neal, one B. We just take we look at we've lowered it now to 65. We want to make some progress on that before we open it up to additional categories. So we will monitor it but I cannot give you a timeframe at this point when we have opened up to other categories. Perhaps next week, we can give a better estimation of that next question.
Governor, this is
KNWA Arkansas. My question is in regard to this school districts being able to keep a massive mandate in place if the school board so chooses. We have seen evidence in other states like Georgia, where allowing each school board and school district to make that determination themselves have led to Differences in the illnesses spreading across schools. How do you plan to make sure that does not happen here in Arkansas?
By monitoring it? And, yes, the school board's the local superintendents, they have to make decisions as to what adjustments that they want to make. But obviously, with a mask mandate staying in place statewide through March 31, I would expect that they would keep that in place along with the social distancing requirements, because that is important. But they will be able to work with the Department of Education, Department of Health, if they need flexibility in some area. That's the benefit of having a guideline. Dr. Pfeffer, do you want to comment on that anymore?
Okay.
All right. Maybe one more question.
Governor, this is Andrew with AP. One sec. A couple of things. First of all on this, just make sure I understand. So this would mean there's no limit on on crowds or biases, the audience for events? Just wanted to clarify that. If so, are you? How are you going to react if you see just so a large number of large events happening after the after this being lifted? And I wonder if you if you could clarify on the mask mandate? How does that work with the lifting of restrictions on businesses? Because the mask mandate? Are people still going to be required to wear masks inside businesses like grocery stores? Or restaurants? Or is it going to be up to the individual businesses now
the mass mandate is in place, which means that you have to if you cannot socially distance, you should have a mask mask on or a face covering. That's the current rule. So that does not change through March 31. But we're giving people an incentive and a way forward, that it will be lifted on March 31. If we meet these public health criterias that have been outlined, and that remains in place. All right. I'm going to be heading up to Northwest Arkansas to see a vaccination clinic today, which I'm very excited about. Dr. Merrill, thank you for your leadership today. And Dr. Pfeffer, and they will be here if there's additional questions, but I'm going to have to take leave to hit the road on that. Thank you.