Residents of Eureka Springs have reported catching Covid recently, even those who went through the early years of the pandemic without getting the virus. But other viruses appear to be dominant right now with quite a few people reporting being ill but testing negative for Covid.
The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) estimates there were about 1,008 new cases of Covid, 78 hospitalizations and five deaths from Covid in the week prior to Oct. 31. Eureka Springs Hospital has reported only six cases of Covid in the past month.
Many people have received free Covid tests ordering from the website covid.gov/tests and are testing at home.
Infection rates at the local schools are often a good indicator of what viruses are circulating in the community, and there have been no recent cases of Covid among staff or students at the Eureka Springs schools, Supt. Bryan Pruitt said. A couple staff members thought they had Covid but tested and it was not, it was a viral infection with achy, flu-type symptoms.
“We’ve had two cases of strep throat in the past week but fall allergies are our biggest deal right now,” Pruitt said. “Ragweed has been rough for us this year. In addition to pollen, there has been more rain lately and allergies from outdoor mold have been bad. We have had a little bit of the flu. Our flu shot clinic was a huge success. We had more kids participate in the flu shot this year than last year. Our school nurse expects that trend to keep moving forward.”
The nurse was surprised that a lot of kids who got required childhood immunization shots received the flu shot at the same time. In preschool, children are required to stay home 48 hours after any fever, vomiting or diarrhea. From K-12, it is 24 hours. Pruitt said it is important that students attend school as much as possible, particularly in K-4 when kids are learning to read.
“If a kid is still sick and doesn’t need to be here, that is okay,” Pruitt said. “But with all the pressure on us from the state, we need students here if possible so we can teach them. Research shows the students who have high absenteeism rates are not learning to read. We have to have them here to teach them to read.
“You would think the highest grade for absenteeism would be seniors, but it is not. It is kindergarten. In the lower grades, kids are sick more often because they are developing their immune system. Elementary school is where we have most of the sickness. But it is so critical we can have them here as much as possible so we can jump on the science of reading and really work with phonics with our kids. That is something we have really tried to push in our elementary school is the attendance factor because it has been so critical for keeping our kids prepared and growing academically.”
Pruitt said they work hard to prevent viruses from spreading by disinfecting the buildings daily.
Covid vaccines have not yet become available for the school. Pruitt says when there are supplies, they are likely to have a Covid shot clinic at school. But he isn’t sure that many students are interested.
“The nurse is noticing a lot of younger people feel that they have already had the Covid shots and are beyond that,” Pruitt said. “That is kind of a trend with younger people.”
National surveys have shown about 47 percent of parents are not planning to get their children the Covid vaccine. A low participation rate in the early weeks the Covid vaccine has been available has been blamed on lower interest from the public, combined with the shots no longer being free even for some with health insurance. Some people have opted against the new vaccine because of being sick for several days after an earlier Covid vaccine shot. One local woman who was ill from the Covid Omicron booster a year ago said she got the shot this year and had no adverse reaction beyond minor arm soreness.
ADH Public Information Officer Danyelle McNeill said the doses in the vaccines have not changed. She said the side effects vary from person to person (and from time to time in the same person) based on their individual responses to the vaccine dose.
McNeill said there has been a moderate increase in Covid hospitalizations in Arkansas with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting increases of between 10 and 19.9 percent.
This is the first year that a vaccine has been available for Respiratory Syncytial Virus, which can cause serious illness in babies and older adults. The demand for the new RSV immunization for children, which is called nirsevimab (Beyfortus), has exceeded the supply.
“The shortage is a nationwide problem and includes Arkansas,” McNeill said. “For this reason, the CDC issued a Health Alert Network Health Advisory on October 23 with the recommendation to prioritize available doses to children at the highest risk of severe RSV disease, which includes infants less than six months of age and infants with underlying health conditions that place them at highest risk.”
Flu shots are without an appointment at the Carroll County Health Unit in Berryville from 7:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Monday through Friday. Avoid the lunch hours between 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Covid shots are available by appointment by calling (870) 423-2923. Shots are free for people with Medicare and Medicaid, and insurance companies will be billed for those who have insurance.
The Boston Mountain Rural Health Clinic in Eureka Springs located in the ECHO Clinic building also has some types of vaccinations available.