9 AM
Cumulative Confirmed Cases: 4,043
Deaths: 94
Recovered: 3,149
Total Active Cases: 800
Total Tested: 70,323
Source: ADH Website
9 AM
COVID in NEA
- Craighead: 98 cases, 72 recoveries, 0 deaths
- Poinsett: 25 cases, 19 recoveries, 2 deaths
- Greene: 23 cases, 19 recoveries, 0 deaths
- Clay: 4 cases, 3 recoveries, 0 deaths
- Randolph: 22 cases, 19 recoveries, 0 deaths
- Lawrence: 69 cases, 40 recoveries, 4 deaths
- Crittenden: 210 cases, 171 recoveries, 7 deaths
- Cross: 29 cases, 20 recoveries, 0 deaths
- Jackson: 1 case, 1 recovery, 0 deaths
- Mississippi: 52 cases, 18 recoveries, 0 deaths
- Sharp: 16 cases, 6 recoveries, 1 death
9 AM
United States: 1,347,936 positive
80,684 have died. 232,733 have recovered.
Global: 4,201,921 positive
286,835 have died. 1,467,412 have recovered.
Source: Johns Hopkins University.
Riceland confirms one employee has COVID-19
Press Release
JONESBORO, Ark. (May 11, 2020): Riceland Foods confirmed one Riceland team member has tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently home under quarantine. Riceland’s COVID-19 Action Plan has been implemented at the Jonesboro Rice Division, where the team member worked. All team members, who were in close proximity, have been informed and sent home for quarantine. The affected work area underwent a deep cleaning and sanitation process to disinfect the area. No rice or oil products were impacted.
Employees have been instructed to follow the Centers of Disease Control procedures for protecting themselves and their families from COVID-19. To minimize the risk of multiple infections in key business units, Riceland has worked to protect all team members within the organization to ensure normal operations. Team members who can work from home have been asked to do so. Riceland facilities are only open for Riceland team members until further notice. Team members have been instructed not to come to work if they have fever or other symptoms of COVID-19.
To maintain normal operations in key business units, flexible work schedules have been implemented to help team members caring for children who are home from school, and Riceland is working with vendors to ensure critical supplies have been secured.
About Riceland Foods, Inc
Riceland Foods is the world’s largest miller and marketer of rice serving 5,500 farmer members in Arkansas and Missouri. As a farmer-led cooperative, Riceland stores, transports, processes and markets more than 2.5 million metric tons of grain each year, and its products are sold across the United States and in 75 countries. It’s also one of the Mid-South’s major soybean processors. Riceland products include white, brown and parboiled rice, rice bran oil, soybean meal and oil and feed ingredients. Learn more at: Riceland.com.
Boozman joins others to call for funding to improve telehealth
press release
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) is among a group of lawmakers urging Congressional leaders to include $2 billion in the next coronavirus relief package to help health care providers expand telehealth services by improving their access to broadband.
Telehealth allows health care providers to treat patients safely without putting themselves or their patients at risk of contracting COVID-19 and has been recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, many providers – especially in rural and hard-to-reach communities – lack the resources to handle this increase in demand for telehealth services.
In a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Boozman and his colleagues call for $2 billion in additional funding to the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program.
“The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically increased the need to expand telehealth. It is imperative that Congress act to ensure our front-line responders have the tools they need to combat this deadly virus,” the senators wrote.
The RHC program is the only federal program that supports broadband deployment at urban and rural health care provider locations. These new funds would expand the RHC Program to support non-rural and mobile health care providers, eliminate administrative red tape slowing down the process of obtaining broadband connectivity and provide more resources to help providers increase their broadband capacity.
Boozman is a co-founder of the Senate Broadband Caucus and is a champion for additional investment to expand broadband in rural areas.
The letter was led by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI). Along with Boozman, it was signed by Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Angus King (I-ME).
The full text of the letter can be found below:
Dear Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, and Leader McCarthy:
We write to express our support for dedicated funding for broadband for health care providers in any future coronavirus relief package Congress considers. The coronavirus pandemic has dramatically increased the need to expand telehealth so that health care providers can treat patients safely, without putting themselves or their patients at risk. As a result, many health care providers are facing connectivity challenges in meeting this new demand for telehealth. It is imperative that Congress act to ensure our front-line responders have the tools they need to combat this deadly virus.
The Rural Health Care (RHC) Program is the only federal program that supports broadband deployment at urban and rural health care provider locations to improve patient care and reduce health care costs. The program is comprised of two parts, the Telecommunications Program, which subsidizes the difference between urban and rural rates for telecommunications services, and the Health Care Connect Fund, which provides health care providers a 65% discount on their telecommunications and broadband costs.
Unfortunately, demand for the RHC Program has outpaced available funding over the last several years, and the COVID-19 pandemic impact will likely exacerbate this issue. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that health care providers use telehealth to direct patients to the right level of care for their health care needs, to conduct initial screenings of patients who may be infected with COVID-19, and to ensure that patients have access to necessary care without potentially exposing themselves by entering a hospital or physician’s office. Congress’s actions to waive restrictions on the use of telehealth in Medicare during the coronavirus outbreak in the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act will also likely increase demands for telehealth and requests for support through the RHC Program.
Congress must do more for our health care providers so that they can meet telehealth needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. That is why we are writing you to request that Congress provide $2 billion in additional support for the RHC Program in any future coronavirus response. This additional support would expand the reach of the RHC Program to enable health care providers at non-rural and mobile health care facilities to engage in telehealth, eliminate administrative red tape that slows down the ability of front-line providers to obtain broadband connectivity, and provide more resources to current health care providers in the RHC Program so they can increase their broadband capacity to effectively treat their patients.
The RHC Program has been a key aspect of increasing telehealth in the United States. In this time of crisis, it is imperative we do our part to ensure the safety and security of our health care providers and patients. We urge you to include support in coronavirus legislation to ensure that Americans can access vital care when they need it in a way that protects their health and the health of those around them. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Afternoon update from Arkansas governor
Governor Asa Hutchinson is expected to speak to the press this afternoon at 1:30 PM. It will be streamed here: https://www.youtube.com/c/GovernorAsaHutchinson/live
10:30 AM
Delegation Announces Additional Coronavirus Relief for Low-Income Arkansans
press release
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton—along with Congressmen Rick Crawford, French Hill, Steve Womack and Bruce Westerman—announced the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded Arkansas over $8 million in coronavirus relief to assist low-income families with energy costs.
The Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment will receive $8,206,119 from HHS’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Congress appropriated these funds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which became law with the support of the Arkansas delegation. The CARES Act provided $900 million in supplemental LIHEAP funding to help “prevent, prepare for, or respond to” home energy needs surrounding the national emergency created by the coronavirus.
“The CARES Act takes a comprehensive approach to help Arkansans struggling from the economic toll of this crisis. This funding will help keep families safe and healthy by assisting with energy costs during their time of need,” members said.
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