Governor Asa Hutchinson announced the extension of the public health emergency until March 31, including the mask mandate, he said in a press conference Friday.
The mask mandate as a directive will end on March 31 if certain public health goals are met, Hutchinson said. If covid positivity rate is 10% or less with at least 7500 testing specimens daily, then the mandate will become a guideline, he said. If testing is below 7500 on average daily, hospitalization rates will be looked at, he added. If hospitalizations are below 750 statewide at the end of march, the mandate will become a guideline, he said.
Effective immediately, all public health directives will become guidelines, which will allow flexibility for restaurants, gyms, salons, and indoor and outdoor venues, the governor announced. The same guidelines will remain in place, he said, only in the form of guidelines, not directives.
“It does not mean a change in behavior you will see,” he said, “It does allow for some flexibility.”
Businesses are offered incentives for following guidelines, because it offers liability protection, he said.
If cases were to increase, the governor reassured the emergency order remains in place and can be adjusted as needed, and guidelines may be reinstated as mandates.
Health secretary Jose Romero stressed the importance of Arkansans continuing to wear masks and wash their hands, adding because we have not found cases of covid variants, does not mean they don’t exist.
Romero added that despite the mandates becoming guidelines, it is still essential for Arkansans to receive the vaccine, as it is the “only way” we will return to normal, he said during the press conference.
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