By: Cayden Hartman
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (UATV) — During his weekly press conference Governor Asa Hutchinson announced changes for COVID-19 protocols related to indoor, outdoor and sporting events.
Governor Hutchinson announced that now up to one hundred people can attend an event without having to submit planning for approval to the Arkansas Department of Health.
“Because of the progress that we’ve made, we are raising that level again for an indoor event before you have to the specific plan approved. There are still certain guidelines to follow but this should be helpful to everyone,” Hutchinson said.
The previous restriction, which Hutchinson announced Jan. 2, required an application to be submitted to the department for any event totaling over 10 people.
“In January of this year, we were at the height of the pandemic in Arkansas, the number of new cases,” Hutchinson said. “So this was implemented as an extra precaution, trying to get us through the winter.”
Hutchinson said that due to declining case numbers that mirrored those in the fall harsher restrictions could be lifted.
“Now that we see our cases more in line with what they were late October and early November of last year, we can go back to where we were previously. Where if you had 100 or more attendees at an indoor event you’d have to get the plan approved,” Hutchinson said.
While this is a return to larger gatherings Hutchinson said that the department will continue to have some oversight.
“This is not opening up the Wild West, it is not acting without department approval on major indoor events. It does give more latitude for the smaller, it could be weddings or something in a convention type center. It just makes life simpler in the planning,” he said.
The governor also discussed changes on pandemic related restrictions to school and community sporting events.
Updated directives now allow for competitions with two or more teams, while sporting event organizers must submit plans to the ADH for approval and host venues are required to enforce compliance with pandemic directives.
Hutchinson said that the change was made to keep athletes from going out of state for competitions and the Arkansas did not gain an advantage from prohibiting these types of events.
He said that these events should be safe if guidelines are followed.
“We’ve put in some guidelines to help them that have to be approved by the department of health,” Hutchinson said. “I think everyone felt comfortable that we could do this in a safe fashion as long as guidelines are followed.”
The updated pandemic related guidelines and directives can be found here.