With the first case of the Coronavirus now being reported in Sevier County, Judge Greg Ray visited our De Queen studio this morning to announce a night time curfew, effective immediately, in Sevier County.
As a precautionary measure, the Arkansas State Dental Association has recommended that all dental clinics in the state close their doors for a brief period of time. Dr. Glenn Lance agrees,with this recommendation, so effective Friday, March 20, Nashville Family Dentistry will be closed. They hope to reopen Monday, March 30th. Until then, let's stay home and stay healthy. A message from Dr. Glenn Lance and Nashville Family Dentistry. If you need emergency dental assistance, please call 870-845-5207.
⚠️UPDATE
As ordered by Governor Asa Hutchinson, all gyms are to be closed. This includes our 8am-8pm access to the facility for all gym members. We apologize for any inconvenience.
👍🏼On the bright side: OUR THERAPY DEPARTMENT REMAINS OPEN (8am-5pm) We are taking ALL necessary precautions for our patients safety and health and will continue to see patients as allowed.
✅Please follow our Facebook page for more updates. We will be posting home exercise tips in the mean time 💪🏼
Stay healthy, friends!
Simple Simon's Pizza of De Queen has closed the dining room but is still available for curbside and delivery. Simple Simon’s is also able to cater for businesses that must continue to work!
Arkansas Division of Emergency Management Urges Families Statewide to Sign Up for Smart911 to Enable Coronavirus Awareness for 9-1-1 and Emergency Responders
“Take Control, Let Us Know” campaign empowers individuals to share critical medical information for more informed emergency response
North Little Rock – As Arkansas responds to the spread of the coronavirus, public health and safety officials ask all Arkansans to sign up for the Smart911 national safety profile registry, a free service that allows individuals and families to provide critical medical information to 9-1-1 and first responders. Arkansas is launching the “Take Control, Let Us Know” campaign to empower the community to take action, and provide valuable and accurate health data that increases the awareness of 9-1-1, first responders, and Emergency Management to an individual’s risk level for coronavirus.
Members of our community are looking for ways to improve the safety of their families, friends and neighbors as the coronavirus spreads. By signing up for Smart911, individuals can help first responders get the key information they need about every person who may need assistance, not only during this outbreak, but during any emergency.
Individuals can create a Smart911 Safety Profile for their household at www.smart911.com or on the Smart911 App that provides critical medical information for those who may be at higher risk of developing a serious COVID-19 illness. As identified by the CDC, the vulnerable population includes older adults, and those with a history of chronic medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes, lung disease, respiratory conditions, and compromised immune systems. When an individual calls 9-1-1, their Smart911 Safety Profile is automatically displayed, allowing our public safety agencies to send emergency response teams to the right location with enhanced medical data.
Individuals can additionally self-identify if they are under quarantine, and whether it is self-imposed or directed by a health professional. The Smart911 App allows quarantined individuals to receive check-in messages on their health status. Smart911 also allows individuals to sign up for alerts from emergency management officials to receive reliable information about the changing coronavirus situation. Individuals who sign up will also receive tailored alerts based on their specific needs and geographic location. With enhanced coronavirus awareness, individuals and first responders have vital information to take proper precautions.
“As the coronavirus continues to be a major public health concern, we are doing everything we can to prepare, respond, and mitigate risk to those in our community who need assistance,” said A.J. Gary, Director of the Division of Emergency Management. “The information provided in a Smart911 Safety Profile enables us to know who is at the greatest risk in our community. We can provide individuals with critical updates based on their location and health history. Ultimately, Smart911 gives our state the chance to be proactive, and lets us know who requires our services. We urge all Arkansans to take action, sign up for Smart911, and help us address the coronavirus outbreak.”
To sign up or update your Safety profile, visit www.smart911.com or download the Smart911 app in the Apple Store or Google Play.
Smart911
This service helps 9-1-1 protect your family by providing more information to first responders. You should sign up too, it is free!
During these uncertain times, Wilkerson Funeral Home is monitoring guidelines from the Center for Disease Control, the National Funeral Directors Association, as well as state and local organizations regarding the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) cases and public health. We would like to share some of our thoughts with you.
The Center for Disease Control guidelines are telling us to keep gatherings to 10 or less. We suggest limiting the funeral services to immediate family members and minister, holding the smallest gathering possible. We also recommend doing this at our facility or more preferably at the graveside to reduce risk of spreading the virus and honoring our duty to the general public. At a later date, if you desire, hold a public memorial service at no additional cost. These things at this time are not mandatory, but important for the health of our community.
Also, if you are not comfortable coming to the funeral home to make arrangements, we can come to you or make them over the phone. Another thing to think about is using our online registry to send a condolence or simply calling the funeral home and having us add your name.
We will honor your wishes to the best of our ability to ensure you receive the type of service you wish to have. Again, our family and staff are here to serve each family as we have done for the last 90 years.
Sarah Wilkerson Casteel
Wilkerson Funeral Home
Effective at 3:00 PM on Thursday, March 19th all UA Cossatot campuses will be closed at least until March 30th.
We take the COVID-19 outbreak very seriously and to protect our students, employees, and our stakeholders, we feel it is in everyone’s best interest to shutter our campuses.
Our students have already been moved to our online learning platforms and we will keep that in place for the foreseeable future.
Our employees will be working from home during this time and we will continue to encourage them (and our students) to practice social distancing and proper hygiene in their personal lives.
We know that we are all in this together and will beat this epidemic together. We all have to make well informed and sensible decisions that may not be popular, but they are for the good of us all.
Even though next week is spring break, we will still be closely monitoring the COVID-19 outbreak. If we must extend the campus closings beyond March 30th, we will make that determination later next week.
In the meantime, we are still teaching and working, we are now just doing it from a distance.
Please be safe and God Bless.
Regards,
Dr. Steve Cole
Chancellor, UA Cossatot
Governor Asa Hutchinson has announced public schools in Arkansas to remain closed until April 17. Bars and restaurants will be closed to dine in customers, drive through and take out only. There are currently 62 cases of the Coronavirus in Arkansas. 9 new counties are affected. Sevier County is the only county in Southwest Arkansas with a positive Covid-19 test.
130 Medical Circle, Nashville, AR 71852 www.howardmemorial.com 870-845-4400 main 870-845-4178 fax
March 2020
To the communities we serve:
Our hospital follows the Centers for Disease Control’s recommended infection prevention and control practices, including minimizing the chance for exposures, placing any patient with known or suspected COVID-19 in a separate location, providing personal protective equipment to health care personnel (gloves, gowns, masks and goggles), and educating staff, patients and the community on proper hand hygiene.
Our hospital is educating the public that the best way to prevent infection is by following the same preventive measures used during the normal cold and flu season. Wash hands regularly, cover coughs and sneezes, and stay home from work or school if you are sick to prevent the spread of infection.
Our hospital participates in emergency preparedness training year-round and is prepared to handle an influx of patients, should that occur. Hospitals communicate and coordinate directly with each other regularly and, in times of large-scale disasters.
Since, last week, Howard Memorial Hospital has been meeting internally and with local officials to ensure the safety of our patients, staff and community. Here are the things that we have in place at this time to address COVID-19:
o Screening everyone that enters into the facility via the ER and Main Lobby by asking three questions and obtaining a temperature. If a patient meets criteria for COVID-19, the patient is escorted outside to a separate area for medical screening exam.
o Using testing guidelines from the Health Department in Little Rock along with our private reference labs.
o All area ambulance services have been asked to screen patients over the phone before going into the home and transporting to the hospital and make the hospital aware of symptoms and screening results so proper precautions can be made prior to the patient arriving to the Emergency Department.
o Patients with respiratory symptoms have a mask placed and our staff will utilize the appropriate personal protective equipment before interacting with the patient.
o Our main lobby entrance is closed at 5:30pm Monday through Friday and reopens at 7am. On weekends, everyone must enter through the Emergency Department entrance. Staff are located in these areas to conduct screenings of everyone entering the facility.
o If we have a confirmed case in our area (Southwest Arkansas or Texarkana) we will move to the next stage for a much more aggressive lockdown of the facility.
Improving the health of the communities we serve
130 Medical Circle, Nashville, AR 71852 www.howardmemorial.com 870-845-4400 main 870-845-
4178 fax
As always, Howard Memorial Hospital is here for your healthcare needs. We continue to
be prepared for any emergency, large or small. If you have any questions, please feel
free to contact us.
Sincerely,
Howard Memorial Hospital
Administration and Staff
I wanted to personally let each and every student who attends UA Cossatot know that everything we are doing during this crisis is to make sure you stay safe and still receive the education you expect to get from UA Cossatot. Currently we have moved all of our courses online and we will keep offering them online as long as we need to in order to keep you as safe as we can from COVID-19 exposure.
During this trying time, please reach out to us for ANY help you need. I also wanted to remind students that we can’t beat the COVID-19 outbreak without your help. Please take this virus very seriously and please practice good hand-washing habits and PLEASE refrain from meeting closely in large groups. This virus spreads mainly by close human contact and if we can eliminate that behavior, at least for a while, we can limit the spread of this virus.
What you do and how you respond personally to this epidemic will define your entire generation!
Please be safe, call or email me any time, and GO COLTS!
Chancellor Cole
From State Representative, DeAnn Vaught…
Please don’t panic! Let me say that again Please Do Not Panic! Breathe... Sevier County does have a positive case.. that is all I can tell you at this point! Let me say this again, STAY HOME if at all possible! The attached picture stresses why it is important to stay home. Take a few seconds and read it.
We knew it was a matter of WHEN not IF, that is why I try so hard to inform you as soon as I know that way you have facts.
LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas will tap Community Development Block Grant funds and the state’s Quick Action Closing Fund to support small businesses and nonprofits that are struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Asa Hutchinson announced today during a press conference at the Capitol.
The Governor has made a formal request for a disaster declaration for small businesses, which will open up loans of up to $2 million in working capital.
“Arkansas and the nation are enduring a jolt to the economy and a huge loss of revenue,” Governor Hutchinson said. “The state cannot cover every loss of business, but we can help with bridge loans to assist companies, nonprofits, and child-care-voucher providers weather this slowdown and retain workers during this national emergency.”
The state will allocate $12 million in block grant money and up to $4 million from the quick-action fund to provide bridge loans to help midsize companies and nonprofits remain open during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Governor also announced that the state will increase reimbursement for child-care voucher providers who care for children who receive federal child-care assistance and that remain open through March 27.
The Department of Human Services (DHS) will suspend the renewal process for child-care vouchers for 30 days. DHS will expedite the process and temporarily relax limits on capacity for providers. More than 800 child-care providers have closed.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will suspend the work requirement through the end of April. DHS also will expedite decisions about SNAP eligibility for those who lose income because of COVID-19.
Washington, D.C. – Senator Cotton (R-Arkansas) introduced a series of bills today to combat the economic fallout from the coronavirus. The four bills each leverage existing government systems to surge cash to low- and middle-income Americans and struggling businesses. Summaries of the bills may be found below.
After introducing the bills, Senator Cotton released the following statement.
“Low and middle-income Americans need help now—not in weeks or months. By using existing government programs to surge cash to struggling families and businesses, we can get them that assistance now. My bills will help our nation weather this storm so that we can emerge stronger than ever on the other side.”
Coronavirus Economic Stimulus Act
Authorizes the Treasury Department to immediately cut a tax-rebate check of $1,000 for every adult tax filer making less than $100,000 per year and $500 for each claimed dependent. Married couples filing jointly that make less than $200,000 per year would be eligible for a $2,000 tax-rebate check.
Eligible filers would receive full rebate checks regardless of tax liability.
This would be a one-time payment. Treasury would use 2018 tax information to assess eligibility.
Coronavirus TANF Expansion Act
Provides Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grants to states that temporarily broaden eligibility standards so that their programs apply to any family with children under 18 whose income has been reduced due to coronavirus and that earned less than 400% FPL last year.
This new class of eligibility would receive a one-time payment of at least $500 and no more than $1,000 per dependent; states would have flexibility within that guidance.
Temporarily waives work requirements for eligibility in the interest of public health.
Coronavirus Unemployment Insurance Expansion Act
Provides block grants to states that expand eligibility to cover: 1) cases where an individual's employer temporarily ceases operations due to coronavirus, 2) cases where an individual is quarantined with the expectation of returning to work and is not receiving pay due to the coronavirus emergency, and 3) cases where an individual must stop receiving pay in order to care for family members or dependents due to the emergency.
Reimburses states for 100% of the costs of the expansion.
Temporarily suspends requirements to seek work in the interest of public health.
Expansion would last until December 31, 2020 or the termination of the national emergency, whichever comes first.
Coronavirus Credit Expansion Act
Increases the cap on small-business disaster loans from $2 million to $20 million dollars, and funds appropriately.
Grants low-interest loans to businesses immediately, with penalties for fraudulent claims being 3x the amount of the loan.
Sevier County Water Association will be closed to the public starting Monday, March 23, until further notice. Customers can go online and pay the bill at scwa.myruralwater.com, mail it to P.O. Box 700, De Queen, AR 71832, or call at 870-642-5289.
Angie Walker of Dr Randy Walker's Clinic in De Queen, was on Ed 88 Radio with Loren Hinton Thursday morning and discussed the very latest Covid-19 information.
Our board met and discussed possible scenarios of resuming our season if the park lockout is lifted on March 30. We have also reviewed the CDC's new recommendation that all public gatherings be limited to 50 people or less for the next 8 weeks. Based on that, the board has decided to cancel the 2020 season out of an abundance of caution and concern for public health. If/when this disease reaches our area, we did not want to be a conduit for exposure and transmission.
We will waive next year's fee unless you want a refund. If you want a refund, send a private message requesting a refund to the league's Facebook page (Sevier County Youth Baseball) or email at seviercountybaseball@gmail.com. Include the following information in the message body:
1)state your request for refund
2)player or player names and ages
3)name of who to make the check out to
4)mailing address
5)phone number
We realize this is not an ideal situation, but this is an issue that affects more than playing baseball.
During the COVID-19 precautions many of you are changing the way you do business, and the Chamber has created a Facebook group to help you reach your customers!
Welcome to Sevierly Strong - Stronger Together!
This group allows you to post notices about changes of hours, curbside delivery, online shopping incentives, or any other factor that customers should be aware of during this time.
Help us spread awareness for our businesses by inviting friends and fellow business owners to join the group.
Please let me know if you have any questions or need any information about current resources, and I will get it to you. We will be working to keep our membership updated and informed about the fluid situation regarding COVID-19, and the effects on our community!
Suzanne Babb
Executive Director
De Queen/Sevier County
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
P.O. Box 67 - 315 W. Stilwell Ave.
De Queen, Arkansas 71832
870-584-3225
After meeting with local Government Officials, Cossatot Volunteer Fire Department is POSTPONING our Annual Fish Fry/Fund raiser that was scheduled for March 28th. We feel that it is in the best interest of the community to do this. We will be monitoring and looking to re-schedule at a later date.
We are encouraging members to go ahead and mail their Annual Membership dues to:
Cossatot VFD
1930 Hwy 70 E
DeQueen, AR 71832
God Bless and Be Safe,
Archie Johnson
Cossatot VFD/ Fire Chief