Governor’s press conference today, MONDAY MARCH 23rd, 2020 (link in comments):
🔘 174 total cases
🔘 Due to efforts of AR procurement team, we were able to secure an additional 2M units of PPE. A portion will be available for shipping later this week. This is in addition to units we will receive from National Strategic Stockpile.
🔘 Expected $160M in state revenue loss between now and end of fiscal year (June 30th, 2020).
3 ANNOUNCEMENTS:
1️⃣ Individual tax filing and payment deadline is extended to match federal filing deadline: July 15th.
Corporation tax filing and payment deadline will remain the same.
This change, coupled with $160M in revenue loss, will produce a $353M revenue shortfall for this fiscal year.
2️⃣ Dept. of Finance and Administration (DFA) Secretary Walther has revised the state forecast which will be issued in a letter later today. AR must operate on a balanced budget so we have to act immediately to absorb the $353M impact.
3️⃣ This necessitates a special session to fill holes in the budget. The plan is to utilize $173M in unallocated surplus from last year to fill in the gaps. Agencies will also be looking for ways to cut their budgets this fiscal year.
DR NATE SMITH, ADH:
📍Breakdown on the 174 cases:
10 children
101 people ages 19-64
63 people ages 65+
📍9 are currently hospitalized
22 have been hospitalized at some point
14 have been in ICU
6 are currently on ventilators
38 are in nursing homes
5 people have recovered
📍60% infected are women
40% infected are men
70% infected are white
20% infected are African American
10% infected fall under “other”
📍Largest reason for small increase in positive cases today is because state testing has been focused on the 3 impacted nursing homes.
📍ADH map showing # of cases/total recovered/counties impacted will be updated on their website 4x a day. (Link to website in comments)
📍Directive has been sent out to temporarily close barber and beauty shops, nail salons, massage therapists, and tattoo parlors.
📍Caution to medical community: while chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are FDA approved, they have not been approved for treating COVID-19. There is little evidence to show it is effective but evidence that shows there are significant side effects and negative interactions with other meds.
SURGEON GENERAL DR GREG BLEDSOE:
📍We hear providers around the state saying they are low on PPE. We hear you and want the medical and provider communities to know that we are using every means possible to secure PPE.