June 11, 2020 / By Steve George, Joshua Berlinger, Laura Smith-Spark, Peter Wilkinson, Melissa Macaya, Mike Hayes and Meg Wagner, CNN
CDC team to visit Arkansas to assist with containment of Covid-19 in Latino community
From CNN’s Janine Mack
A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team is scheduled to arrive Friday in Northwest Arkansas, said Dr. Nate Smith during a news conference on Thursday.
“Their goal is to help us to better understand the dynamics of transmission in the northwest part of the state, particularly in Washington and Benton counties, helping to understand this interplay between transmission in the home, in the community and in the workplace. We are hoping that those insights will better enable us to break those cycles of transmission,” Smith said.
Smith said 29% of active cases in the state were in the Latino community and on Tuesday, 24% of our hospitalized patients were in the Latino community.
The Arkansas Department of Health reported 10,816 cases of Covid-19 cases and 171 deaths in the state.
Smith said there are 3,294 active cases, with 140 in nursing homes, 199 in correctional facilities and 2,955 in communities.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he believes he made the right decision to lift restrictions and to move the state into phase two on June 15 despite the number of Covid-19 cases rising.
“Even though we are opening up and expanding our economy that does not diminish the seriousness of this virus,” he said.
