ARKANSAS, USA — In December 2019, the World Health Organization's (WHO) China office was alerted to several unknown origin pneumonia cases centered in Wuhan's seafood wholesale market.
At the time it didn't have a name, but it was the start of a deadly pandemic we now know as COVID-19.
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson says he remembers being briefed on what was happening overseas.
"We had numerous calls with the White House, with other governors, helping to get prepared and helping to know how to respond to it," he said. "You knew that it was likely to come to Arkansas so you are trying to get prepared for it and nobody can really understand the gravity, the drama that was ahead for us."
According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), the first laboratory case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the U.S. on January 20, 2020.
"It was actually shocking to see how quickly it spread in Washington state and how it hit the nursing homes. It was challenging in terms of hospital care, so it was alarm bells going off at that time," Hutchinson said of watching cases enter the U.S.
On March 11, 2020, Arkansas confirmed its first presumptive positive case. At the time, Gov. Hutchinson revealed the case came out of Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
"We had planned that when the first case hit that I would declare an emergency so we could put the resources needed to respond to it," he said.
Gov. Hutchinson says securing PPE was a challenge during a global shortage.
"It was unbelievable for me to be on the phone with our suppliers and saying we need to reserve factory time. I never thought I would have to do that as a Governor," he said. "And then being told we are being outbid by New York."
During the pandemic, the governor issued a directive to close indoor dining at restaurants. Later it extended to closing gyms, barbershops and salons for example.
"I remember the pressure even from the Trump Whitehouse to shelter in place, to close businesses. I resisted that in Arkansas, he explained. "It didn't make sense and so we didn't go down that path of saying, 'some businesses are essential, and some are non-essential.'"
The governor said all businesses are essential and he wanted to keep as many open as possible.
Closing school campuses in the spring of 2020 wouldn't last long. By the fall, virtual learning would be offered but many children headed back into the classroom.
"I was getting letters from female volleyball students saying, 'it's my senior year, please don't cancel our year.' The pressure was there because then you had some teachers protesting out in front of the mansion saying, 'you're going to put us in a coffin if you make us have school.' So, that was a lot of pressure," Gov. Hutchinson said.
5NEWS asked the governor if he has any regrets about how he handled the pandemic?
"One of the regrets is some of the confusing messages that were out there, and that science was disregarded," he explained. "Whenever you look at the skepticism over some of the vaccines, it just really surprised me. It was what we had been waiting for. All of a sudden, skepticism came in and they questioned that and conspiracy theories. I would have liked to have greater acceptance of that."
Hutchinson is term-limited and has served two four-year terms as governor and cannot run again.
5NEWS asked the governor what comes next? He said he is thinking about a run for president but did not say when he might decide on whether to enter the race.
As of May 27, 2022, Arkansas reported a total of 842,439 cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. 3,763 Arkansans have lost their lives to the virus in the past two years.
DOWNLOAD THE 5NEWS APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE 5NEWS APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KFSM in the Channel Store.
For Fire TV, search for "KFSM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com.