ARKANSAS, USA — During Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson’s weekly press conference, he touched on COVID-19, the Friday, Dec. 10 deadly storms, and the waiting list for developmentally disabled Arkansans.
Developmentally Disabled Waitlist
Governor Hutchinson plans to waive the fees for Arkansans with developmental or intellectual disabilities they can access the services they need.
"The Developmentally Disabled waiting list is of great concern to us, we have a commitment and a plan to address that," Gov. Hutchinson said. "We have been working on this with Secretary Gillespie and Director Stone for many months."
Since Dec.1, more than 3,000 Arkansans are on a waiting list to get the services they need and Hutchinson is hoping to provide service to everyone on the waiting list by June 2025.
The governor says he sent a waiver request through the DHS to immediately take 200 Arkansans off the waiting list. He says he hopes to fund the rest of those on the waiting list by asking lawmakers to approve $37.6 million of a total of $60 million already going to DHS.
"That list represents thousands of Arkansans, it gives them hope, and it gives them a specific plan as to how to address this great need that we have to meet the needs of our most vulnerable citizens," Gov. Hutchinson said.
The governor says this plan has been in the works for several months.
DHS's Director of Division of Developmental Disabilities Services, Melissa Stone says she is pleased with the announcement and says it’s been a long time coming.
“Since he has been in office with this announcement today, he has doubled the amount of people that are served on this waiver," Stone said.
Weekends Deadly Storms
On Dec. 15, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will send two teams to assess the damage in hard-hit places like Jonesboro, Arkansas and Monette, Arkansas.
Gov. Hutchinson says right now the state reports two dead, 61 buildings are destroyed, 82 have major damage and 121 have minor damage. There is also agriculture damage.
He says more people are getting their power restored. At one point more than 12,000 people were in the dark with current numbers still a little over 1,000.
“We have shelters in place, we have volunteer organizations that are working with the needs of the people," Gov. Hutchinson said.
The governor is hoping that once FEMA tours the damage in the area, it will meet the requirements for federal assistance. To meet that threshold, the estimated damage must be between $4-5 million. However, he gave no clear timeline as to when Arkansans could see that assistance.
"It takes time…the damage assessment takes time," Gov. Hutchinson said.
When asked for a clearer timeline, the governor said "Generally months, but we hope to put it in the form of weeks. We know the challenges the homeowners face.”
Gov. Hutchinson says that he is waiting to seek federal assistance before going into state funds for long-term help for those uninsured Arkansans.
State assistance also requires a certain threshold for damage. The threshold varies in each county.
COVID-19
The governor is concerned about hospitalizations during the winter months. However, he says he is hopeful with a year ago, the Pfizer vaccine first made its way to Arkansas.
Gov. Hutchinson contrasted Arkansas's COVID-19 numbers from Dec. 14, 2020, to Dec. 14, 2021, focusing on the drop in hospitalizations. He says hospitalizations are the best indicator for measuring where we are in the pandemic.
The governor says the number of hospitalizations is currently manageable. He says if we continue to increase our vaccination rate and keep active cases down, the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 should continue to be manageable.
State Health Secretary Dr. Jose Romero echoed the message, drawing the distinction from last year to this year.
"This last year we've had 3,045 deaths,” Dr. Romero said. “If we take into consideration that conservatively 70-80% of those deaths could have been prevented if they were vaccinated. We need to get our population fully vaccinated."
The governor and Dr. Romero both encouraged getting a booster shot. They say it is the best protection against serious consequences of the virus.
Dr. Romero also mentioned a few recommendations for holiday gatherings:
- Gatherings are okay if everyone is fully immunized
- Unvaccinated people should avoid large gatherings
- Encourages testing before and after you travel