Governor Hutchinson’s weekly COVID-19 briefing including his characterization of the numbers as “holding our own.”

But he said a jump of 13 hospital admissions was “worrisome.”

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He noted that the state continues to receive more doses than it is distributing and needs to do better. He acknowledged the state is well below the national average for vaccination, some of it he linked to a “Southern” resistance. (He could have called it Trump tribalism and not been far off the mark.)

Figures show Hispanics are more likely to have gotten shots than white or Black groups.

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The governor said the state was beginning a push in schools and elsewhere to focus on shots for younger people. Health Director Jose Romero said the state hoped to expand shots to children as young as 12 by summer.

Vaccine also will be available beginning next week in county health units.

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Hutchinson volunteered that public safety officials were prepared in Arkansas for the likelihood of “civil protests” after the verdict in the George Floyd murder trial. “We are prepared to make sure they can be handled peacefully.” He said there was a plan in place for all eventualities.

He said he had less problem with one gun bill — declaring state sovereignty on intrastate production and sale of guns — than with the bill declaring Arkansas could ignore certain federal gun laws and penalize local law officers that cooperate with federal authorities on enforcement of those laws. The latter has a bearing on interstate commerce, he said.

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He said he was awaiting a final form of legislation discussed to prohibit mask orders. He said there are no such orders now, suggesting there’s no need for the bill, though there might be a need for mask orders in the future.

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