On Jan. 10, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement issued a call to shelter in place for seniors, families with unvaccinated children, and families with members who are immunocompromised or at risk because of health conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, diabetes or cancer.
ACHI urges Arkansans, especially school, municipal, business and faith leaders, to recognize the short-term threat posed by the fast-spreading omicron Covid-19 variant.
“Omicron is spreading uncontrolled across our state, posing a serious health threat to those who are not vaccinated and boosted,” ACHI President and CEO Dr. Joe Thompson wrote in a press release. “The sheer number of people becoming infected is a threat to our healthcare system. We expect and hope that the current surge will be short-lived, but for the next three weeks we call on Arkansans to take action to fight this highly infectious variant.”
ACHI reported Jan. 10 that a record 226 Arkansas public school districts, or 97 percent of the state’s 234 contiguous school districts, have Covid-19 infection rates of 50 or more new known infections per 10,000 district residents over a 14-day period. In some districts, more than 4 percent of residents in the local community are known to be infected.
In the face of the immediate threat posed by the explosion of omicron, ACHI calls for the following short-term actions:
- Implementation of masking requirements for all staff and students in all schools across the state.
- Virtual instruction for schools with the highest infection rates.
- Suspension of public interactions or implementation of virtual options where possible on the part of municipalities, businesses and houses of worship.
ACHI’s recommendations for the next three weeks are:
- Recognize the short-term threat from the omicron variant.
- Cease public-facing activities short-term.
- Limit in-person meetings and gatherings and consider going virtual.
- Redouble efforts on hygiene, distancing and ventilation.
- Enable work-from-home options for employees, with expectation of isolation strategies.
- Require masking indoors or in crowded settings.
- Emphasize the importance of vaccines, including booster shots.
- Support local school, municipal, business and faith leaders in these decisions.
“I fear that some may be underestimating the threat from omicron because they have heard that its effects are milder than those caused by the delta variant,” Thompson said. “It does appear from early data that omicron is not as likely as delta to cause severe pneumonia; nevertheless, omicron is a serious health threat for the unprotected.”