The governor’s daily urp:

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“While we see nearly 1,700 fewer active cases than this time last week & continue to distribute vaccine doses across the state, we cannot relax our carefulness in fighting the spread of COVID-19. As we move into the first stages of Phase 1-B on Monday, we continue our march toward a heathier, safer Arkansas.”

Even allowing for delayed reporting, the rolling average of daily vaccinations isn’t high enough to make much of a dent.

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Why aren’t we calling out the National Guard to do mass clinics in Arkansas? It appears Joe Biden will put them to work.

The vaccination report looks particularly lacking in the case of doses distributed by chain pharmacies in nursing homes. Dr. Joe Thompson of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement is getting national attention for his criticism of their work:

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Fewer than 10% of doses allocated to those Arkansas seniors have been administered, according to the state health department. The two pharmacies are working with about 40% of the state’s facilities. Some of those were told that they were scheduled for February or March, said Dr. Joe Thompson, former Arkansas surgeon general and chief executive of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement

“This is not acceptable,” said Thompson. “We’re seeing a failure in deployment by CVS and Walgreens.”

The news today includes the spread of a form of the virus that is transmitted more easily, not good news in Arkansas given our record.

The hospital details at 2 p.m. today:

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Current hospitalizations: 1,314

Total Beds: 8,900

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Total Beds Available: 1,998

Total ICU Beds: 1,178

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Total ICU Beds Available: 47

Total Vents: 1,110

Total Vents Available: 643

Total Covid patients in ICU: 434

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Total Covid patients on vents: 226.

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