An additional 49 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the state, which brings the total number of positive cases to 2,276 over all. 13 if the 49 cases are from Cummins prison.
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Hutchinson said certain restrictions will be lifted beginning Monday if the number of new COVID-19 cases in the state continues to slow. An outbreak at Cummins prison has driven an increase in total cases recently but state health officials have reported fewer new cases of community transmission.
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State Secretary of Health Dr. Nate Smith said health providers will still have to meet certain guidelines to perform elective procedures. Patients cannot be showing symptoms of COVID-19 and must have been tested for the virus within 48 hours of the procedure. Procedures that require overnight care at a health facility will still not be allowed.
A ban on elective procedures has been in place for weeks to limit the spread of the virus. The ban includes most surgical abortions. The state’s only provider of surgical abortions sued the state over the ban but a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the ban was legal.
Abortion procedures are included in the elective procedures that will be allowed to resume Monday under the state’s plan to lift restrictions.
“We’re taking an incremental approach to reintroducing these elective procedures, so they’ll have to meet all the criteria,” Smith said.
Hutchinson announced that the state would lift restrictions on elective procedures which would be effective on April 27.
Hutchinson also said that the state would decide on restaurants on April 29 and gyms on April 30.
The state would also announce decisions on beauty and barber salons by May 1 and places of worship and larger venues by May 4.
Hutchinson stressed that reopening businesses depends on whether community transmission of the virus continues to decline. He said that certain health recommendations, such as social distancing and protective masks, will stay in place.
