ARKANSAS COVID SURGE — The number of people hospitalized in Arkansas due to the coronavirus has reached another record. According to latest figures from The Arkansas Department of Health, the state's COVID-19 hospitalizations rose by 11 to 1,074. The state's confirmed and probable coronavirus cases rose by 1,950 to 159,309. Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced the state is using its Trauma Communications Center to coordinate coronavirus cases among hospitals in the state. Troy Wells, CEO of Little Rock-based Baptist Health, and a member of the Governor’s Covid-19 Winter task force explained how the Trauma Comm System should work.
"It better identifies in a standardized way what a particular patient may need, and then helps to prevent certain hospitals from being overwhelmed with patients from around the state that might be able to be cared for elsewhere," Wells explained. "So we're really trying to maximize the use of those scarce resources, ICU beds in particular, and look at the whole state and take care of all of our patients in Arkansas."
The plan was recommended by the task force Hutchinson formed to address a surge in cases and hospitalizations and coordinate available space to prevent hospitals from being overburdened. For example Covid-19 hospitalizations in southwest Arkansas currently is at 57% and 39% in southeast Arkansas. The Arkansas Governor said the new system will cost about $70,000 a month to operate and should be up and running in about two weeks.
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