Northwest Arkansas has been experiencing such fast-increasing rates of Covid-19 that medical care providers have warned about an inadequate capacity to treat hospitalized patients and rationing of testing.
On July 2 Arkansas had a one-day high in Covid-19 positive tests of 878. That same day healthcare providers in Benton and Washington counties warned about shortages of supplies, including those for testing. Providers expressed concern that spiraling cases of the virus in a number of states across the country were putting stress on the national supply chain for testing supplies that would have a direct impact on testing in NWA and the rest of the state.
Hospitals and clinics are now only testing people with symptoms, people living with someone who tested positive, and patients scheduled for surgical procedures. Asymptomatic healthcare workers with exposure to someone with Covid were also on the hospital list. However, one Carroll County healthcare worker who has treated numerous patients with the virus said she was told on July 6 to expect a week delay before getting test results.
Quick testing followed by contract tracing is considered the gold standard remedy to keep Covid-19 from spiraling out of control. Such long delays in testing make that difficult, if not impossible, Dr. Dan Bell said.
“I actually personally got fever recently and felt ill,” Bell said. “I went in and got a test. It took six days before they got results back to me. If I had been positive, it would have been difficult for the contract tracing to have any effects. After that long, it is hard to do contract tracing.”
There have also been concerns that it can take a week or longer after the positive test result before the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) starts doing contract tracing.
“That is way too slow,” Bell said. “Hopefully, what we would have happen is test results within 48 hours and someone would be contacting you that day to tell you what you need to do to quarantine yourself. Another problem is the contract tracers are just calling people on the phone and that’s turning out to be not very accurate. The contract tracer needs to be familiar with the community. They need boots on the ground, contract tracers who know the community so they can ferret it out with more accuracy.”
Bell and other volunteers with the ECHO Health Clinic were recently involved in pushing for contract tracing for a paroled inmate from the Cummins unit who was not practicing social distancing or wearing a mask during his quarantine period. In this case, a contract tracer from Texarkana did the work. Bell said someone more familiar with the area would have had more success.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson, at daily press conferences and on national television programs, has urged a national approach to testing. Hutchinson has asked President Donald Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) to ensure laboratories keep up with the demand for testing.
In addition to Hutchinson, nine U.S. Senators and several other governors have asked Trump to invoke the DPA to increase production of testing supplies in the U.S., which has the highest number of cases and deaths of any country in the world. Thus far, Trump has declined to do that stating that he doesn’t want to interfere with private businesses.
On June 12, the ADH listed 56 cases of Covid-19 in Carroll County with one death. The July 6 report showed cases had tripled to 190 with five deaths.
“The rates have gone up pretty quickly,” Bell said. “There is reason to be concerned.”
Carroll County has tested 2,878 people with 190 positives, which gives the county about a 6.2 percent positive rate. The entire state has a positive rate of about 6.9 percent.
As of July 6, the ADH poultry cluster report indicated 39 poultry workers at Tyson Green Forest have tested positive for the virus. There were 11 active cases listed, and 28 listed as recovered. Tyson Berryville was not on the most recent cluster report that requires at least five active cases to be listed. Two workers from the Berryville plant have died from Covid-19 and earlier cluster reports showed 10 cases at that plant for a total of 49 cases in Carroll County.
ADH does not track family members of poultry workers who come down with covid. While it is not possible to determine how much of the spread in Carroll County is a result of the poultry plant clusters, experts estimate that each patient spreads the disease to an average of 2.2 people.
Statewide, ADH is showing 584 active cases in poultry plants, which have remained open after being named essential industries by President Trump. The Arkansas poultry industry has had a total of 2,908 cases including at least 11 deaths. The June 6 non-poultry business clusters had 23 active cases for a total of 45 cases.