HJAR Mar/Apr 2022

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  MAR / APR 2022 43 José R. Romero, MD Secretary Arkansas Department of Health mitigate their impact during the pandemic by creating outreach programs to address the specific needs of these populations. This has been accomplished by linguistically, cul- turally, and socially appropriate targeted messaging to disparate groups and popu- lations to ensure they had the information required to make the most appropriate de- cisions about their health during the pan- demic. In addition, efforts have been made to provide and improve access to COVID-19 diagnostics, vaccinations, and therapeutics. SARS-CoV-2 testing was a very early chal- lenge for the ADH. The ADH Public Health Laboratory (ADHPHL) went from the inabil- ity to perform on-site COVID-19 testing to its current ability to process 3,000 to 3,500 specimens a day with the help of its partners. This was accomplished through the modern- ization as well as physical expansion of its molecular testing capability. Ultra-modern, high-throughput specimen processing and additional molecular diagnostic equipment were added. To detect the inevitable future appearance of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants, the ADHPHL expanded and strengthened its ability to perform genomic sequencing of viral isolates. Coupled with phylogenetic analysis, this will allow the ADH to rapidly identify novel COVID-19 variants as they appear in our state. The difficulties of caring for COVID-19 patients were not restricted to available beds and personnel. The most serious infections often had to be transferred to larger health- care systems. Transfer of these patients was frequently met with the difficulty in identi- fying available beds across the state and in transporting them once beds were found. As a result, COVID COMM was put into op- eration through Metropolitan Emergency Medical Services (MEMS) in Little Rock. The system, used statewide, identified hospitals with available beds for COVID-19 care and coordinated the transport of patients. More recently, the telehealth and communications platform, Pulsara, has since been added to improve communications between different healthcare organizations, such as emergency management services and hospitals. Healthcare staffing was also an issue as employees or their families became ill or quarantined and were unable to work. This placed pressure on the healthcare system in the state overall. This issue became par- ticularly acute during the recent Omicron variant surge in cases. This was further ex- acerbated by healthcare staff switching jobs Arkansas identified its first confirmed COVID-19 case in March 2020. As of late January 2022, there have been over 794,000 citizens who have tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the cause of COVID-19 and over 9,800 COVID-19-related deaths. Be- fore that first case, Arkansas Department of Health leaders recognized that COVID-19 would eventually spread to Arkansas and took steps to start preparations by activat- ing the ADH Emergency Operation Center (EOC). This state-of-the-art center, located within ADH, would serve as the command center for all COVID-19 planning and re- sponses during the early phases of Arkan- sas’s pandemic. The EOC was manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week byADH staff and Arkansas National Guardsmen. Challenges to the response were identi- fied from the onset. COVID-19 served as a glaring reminder of the significant and long- standing disparities in access to healthcare that has existed in our state and nation and have resulted in certain groups, in particular racial and ethnic minorities, being at greater risk for adverse outcomes following SARS- CoV-2 infection. There can be no quick and simple solution for these failings. We tried to It has been two years since the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was confirmed in Arkansas. Amid surges in cases, the COVID-19 health pandemic has highlighted both the strength of the state’s healthcare workforce and systems as well as the continued challenges it faces in terms of supplies, testing, hospital capacity, and vaccination. In this column, I’d like to look back on the last two years on the challenges we’ve faced and how far we’ve come.