Forrest City has become a community of concern for state officials during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
During the Tuesday, May 12 press conference, Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Arkansas Department of Health Secretary Dr. Nathaniel Smith singled out the Delta town of Forrest City, located in St. Francis County, for a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases. There were 121 total new cases throughout Arkansas reported on Tuesday with 100 being “community” cases; the other cases came from within correctional facilities. Of those 100 community cases, 27 were from St. Francis County.
The Arkansas Department of Health’s website lists a total of 305 positive cases in St. Francis County with 87 recoveries as of Tuesday, May 12. It also lists 1,028 negative tests in the county.
According to Hutchinson, there have been concerns about the Forrest City area for some time, due to the presence of the Federal Correctional Institute in the community. The spike of cases, he said, has increased concern for the area.
“Clearly that’s a concern. We first had the outbreak in the prison facility, and the worry was that it would spread to the community. I want to make sure that everyone there in Forrest City knows the importance of sticking with our social guidelines and distancing and wearing of masks for their own protection and the protection of others because we don’t want this spike to become larger,” he said.
Outbreaks were reported at the Federal Correctional Institute in Forrest City beginning in Forrest City with both inmates and staff being infected. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dispatched teams to contain the outbreak. At the April 7 press conference, Smith said, “They will be proceeding to Forrest City to assist the prison in their containment efforts and also to help us ensure that an outbreak there doesn’t spill over into the surrounding community.”
In response to a question asking if the state’s reopening procedures were the cause of the Forrest City spike, Hutchinson responded that “inadequate testing,” particularly of staff members, at the FCI Forrest City facility was the cause of the spike. He referenced the Cummins Unit testing effort, saying that the state tested “all the staff that might have been exposed in those particular barracks” during its contact tracing efforts at the state prison unit.
“Not all the same procedures were followed at FCI in Forrest City. Therefore, you have a lot of contact with the staff with the community, and that’s what we were concerned about and that’s what we see as the reason for that spike in St. Francis County,” Hutchinson said.
Smith echoed Hutchinson’s remarks, saying that there was insufficient testing for prison staff. “This is a community I’m concerned about. We have not just the FCI with the inmates, but we also have workers there – many of whom have not yet been tested. I would encourage those who work at the FCI there to get tested either by their private physicians or one of these community test events,” he said.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) mobile health unit has visited Forrest City multiple times in recent weeks, most recently last weekend. Smith said that the state will be conducting more testing soon and will be working with community leaders to increased case identification.
“We will also be working with community leaders there to do more testing within that community in an organized way so that we are able to identify cases as quickly as possible,” he said.
During the conference, Smith said that there was no new information on the FCI’s COVID-19 numbers. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) website lists the number of cases as of May 12. According to the BOP site, there are three staff members at the FCI Forrest City Medium with confirmed active cases, and there are 244 inmates and one staff member at the FCI Forrest City Low facility with confirmed active cases.
Across the United States, there are confirmed active cases at 52 BOP facilities and 23 residential reentry centers (RRCs). As of May 12, there have been a total of 2,818 federal inmates and 262 BOP staff who have tested positive for COVID-19. There are 139,584 federal inmates in BOP-managed facilities and 11,235 in community-based facilities across the United States.
Smith also mentioned that he had heard of a planned graduation party in Forrest City for this week, an idea he called “probably not a good idea” in an area with confirmed community transmission “at higher levels than many other communities.”
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