LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A lot of changes can happen in two years, especially when dealing with a deadly virus that has infected over 800,000 Arkansas residents.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in January of 2020, CDC officials confirmed the first COVID-19 case in the United States. Just two months later, the virus changed the state of Arkansas as residents knew it.
On March 11, 2020, Arkansan James Black made history as the first person in the state to receive a positive COVID-19 test.
Black spent just over a month recovering at the Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Pine Bluff before getting the green light to be discharged.
Black’s journey with recovering from COVID-19 was not an easy road.
“It took me about three and a half months to recover,” he said. “I had to learn how to walk again. I had to learn how to talk again.”
Though it was good news that Black was able to recover and be released from the hospital, health officials in the state still had to prepare for the waves of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.
A year after the first case, the virus had infected over 325,000 Arkansans, leaving over 300 hospitalized and claiming the lives of over 5,300.
To mark the one-year anniversary of the state’s first diagnosis, Gov. Asa Hutchinson spoke in Pine Bluff, noting that 17% of the state had been vaccinated.
On Sept. 28, 2021, Hutchinson and First Lady Susan Hutchinson received a COVID-19 booster shot as state officials urged residents to get vaccinated.
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and First Lady Susan Hutchinson received their COVID-19 booster shot on Sept. 28, 2021.
The pandemic has changed the way people see and operate in the world, affecting personal and professional lives. Events and concerts were canceled, living arrangements were altered and lives were uprooted.
By the summer of 2021, Arkansas had seen two surges. The state saw an increase in cases due to the delta variant, which affected many children in the state. In December of 2021, the ADH confirmed the first active case of the omicron variant in the state, sending hospitals into another frenzy.
Two years after the first case came to Arkansas, people found a sense of normalcy in an unfamiliar world. State and health officials worked to provide direction and care as the state navigated through the pandemic.
Arkansans have had to adjust to the many changes brought by the pandemic, including public health emergencies, mask mandates, working from home, and more.
As the state marks two years of the pandemic, active cases and hospitalizations are continuing to see daily decreases, a rapid and remarkable change from when Arkansas saw record high active cases and hospitalizations in January.
In the latest update from the ADH, there were 2,444 active COVID-19 cases and 280 patients hospitalized in Arkansas with the virus. There were also 824,988 total cases reported in the state with 10,836 deaths since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
COVID-19 case numbers are also declining nationwide, allowing the world to have a peep of hope for the future.
