@ArkansasCovid
Thank you for asking @AsaHutchinson about the ability of the ADH to handle outbreaks of Covid-19 when school starts.
The answer left me feeling even more confused how any of this can be handled in a timely, effective manner. (1/7)

There are 1, 102 schools in Arkansas (486,000 students).
In Springdale alone, there are 23,000 students in 30 schools.
If an outbreak occurs, it will be at an individual school. (2/7)

From the district info I’ve seen, in Springdale the first person who will be notified if a student tests positive is the school nurse. He/she will then notify the district nursing supervisor.
From today’s explanation, the next to be notified would be the Ark Dep of Ed. (3/7)

Then the Department of Ed would contact the ADH, who would carry out the contact tracing for that positive case in the school.
I cannot imagine how long this process will take. (4/7)

With our current testing turnaround times, by the time a positive is identified and they’ve gone through the chain of command (patient-school nurse-nursing supervisor-Dep of Ed-ADH), how can we expect contact tracing and quarantining to be done effectively? (5/7)

In Washington County, 17.9% of our cases have been children. This means that just in Springdale, over 800 children have tested positive. I know some have recovered, but with cases still growing & our high positivity, it won’t be long before students begin testing positive. (6/7)

That is just one school district out of 288 in the state. How are we to expect the ADH to keep up with these cases/outbreaks? (7/7)