BENTON, Arkansas — Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson emerged from the first of three scheduled community meetings around the state and said plans to require public gatherings of 10 or more people to get health department approval was still being worked out.
The Tuesday morning gathering at the Benton Events Center was billed as a way for the Republican governor to get local feedback on how his coronavirus mandates and directives are being implemented. They come as case counts surge and record numbers of Arkansans have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
"We're really in a critical time in our fight against the pandemic," Hutchinson said in opening remarks that were open to the media. About a dozen Saline County lawmakers, mayors, judges and school leaders spaced out over a wide area.
The governor said the Arkansas Department of Health had approved the meeting and Secretary Dr. Jose Romero was on hand.
"We're in a good spot in terms of, we've got our mask mandate in place. We've got good guidelines. We've got good testing in Arkansas," the governor said following the meeting when asked about whether new restrictions might be forthcoming.
"We want to make sure we get them right. And so until we fine-tune that, we're not going to be releasing that," he said.
While some of the governor's critics want him to restrict far more activities, none appeared to have his ear today. In fact, he waded into a crowd of those who think he's gone too far with mandates. About a dozen people stood in the parking lot, angry over not being allowed into the meeting.
Benton Mayor Tom Farmer, who recovered from the virus, thought the governor heard an important message about mixed signals.
"I think he really heard that it's hard for us in the different offices we're in about the different messages that are out there," he said.
And the mixed messages about what types of gatherings would need approval seemed to send the governor back to his default position he has held for most of this pandemic.
"Nobody here is calling for 'you've got to restrict more or you've got to take stronger action,'" he said. "They said 'we will take responsibility.'"
A representative from Westside Pharmacy delivered encouraging news about its plans to distribute vaccines as soon as they become available.
That and other messages seemed to deliver a positive message to the governor even as positive cases surge.
"This is gonna be over. It's not a lifetime change," Mayor Farmer said.
"We're gonna get rid of these masks. We're gonna get back to what we felt like was a normal life. It's just going to take a little more time than we anticipated."