DANGER: ACHI charts COVID rates in the state’s school districts. Most are in dangerous territory.

The number of school districts with alarming rates of COVID-19 is on the rise, the Arkansas Center for Health improvement reports.

Advertisement

Said ACHI:

One hundred eighty-two Arkansas school districts have COVID-19 infection rates of 50 or more new known infections per 10,000 district residents over a 14-day period, up from 140 a week earlier, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement said Thursday. The information is based on Arkansas Department of Health data obtained Monday.

 

Of those 182 districts, 42 have 14-day COVID-19 infection rates of 100 or more new known infections per 10,000 district residents, or more than 1% of residents, up from 16 a week earlier.

 

“Infection rates in Arkansas communities have been increasing each week, and our soaring hospitalization and death counts bear out that we are in the midst of a COVID-19 surge driven by the highly contagious delta variant,” said ACHI President and CEO Dr. Joe Thompson. “This week, only seven school districts in the state have 14-day infections rates of fewer than 30 new known infections per 10,000 district residents. With the start of the school year imminent, it is crucial that school leaders use every tool they have to protect kids: vaccination for those who are eligible, universal indoor mask requirements, social distancing, good hand hygiene, and increased ventilation.”

 

The local-level COVID-19 data can be found on ACHI’s COVID-19 in Arkansas web page at achi.net/covid19. On ACHI’s map of Arkansas school districts, a district with 50 to 99 new known infections per 10,000 residents is shaded red, and a district with 100 or more new known infections per 10,000 residents is shaded purple.

PS: For the legislators who think kids don’t get sick:

Advertisement

There are 24 patients with COVID-19 hospitalized at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and 3 patients with COVID-19 hospitalized at its Northwest facility.  

Be a Part of the Fight

Step up and make a difference by subscribing or donating to the Arkansas Times, the progressive, alternative newspaper in Little Rock that's been fighting for truth for 50 years. Our tough, determined, and feisty journalism has earned us over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, all of whom value our commitment to holding the powerful accountable. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing or donating, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be supporting our efforts to hire more writers and expand our coverage. Join us in the fight for truth by subscribing or donating to the Arkansas Times today.

Previous article CHI St. Vincent to require staff vaccinations Next article Hung jury on all but one count in Baker trial; former lawmaker acquitted of conspiracy