Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STATON BREIDENTHAL --6/26/03-- The Helena Bridge on U.S. 49 leads across the Mississippi River.

An Arkansas mayor wants Gov. Asa Hutchinson to set up "volunteer screening locations" for people driving over the bridge from neighboring Mississippi.

Kevin Smith, the mayor of Helena-West Helena, sent a letter to the governor on Wednesday saying Mississippi is a "hot zone" for covid-19. There have been 18 confirmed cases in Coahoma County, Miss., on the east side of the bridge.

As of Friday, no cases of the disease caused by the coronavirus had been confirmed in Phillips County where Helena-West Helena is the county seat.

"Back before science eradicated the boll weevil, every vehicle that crossed the Helena bridge was stopped for inspection," wrote Smith, referring to vehicles heading east. "If the state is not ready to do something like that, could we at least screen people, voluntarily? Are not people pandemics at least as important as crop disease?"

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Friday afternoon, Hutchinson told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that screening sites at the Helena bridge was "something to be considered."

"But there are so many routes across the river that we have to look at the entire bridge system to make any difference," Hutchinson said in an email. "We are not closing our state border and stopping border traffic."

Smith said he didn't ask for the state's border to be closed.

There are four bridges in Arkansas that span the Mississippi River -- two in Memphis, one in Helena-West Helena and one at Lake Village.

"It might not be practical in Lake Village or Memphis but it is practical here," Smith said of the screenings.

Completed in 1961, the Helena bridge is only two lanes wide, compared to four-lane bridges at the other three Arkansas locations.

And for the first 12 years of its existence, the bridge at Helena was a toll road, so people stopped when they got to either side and paid the toll.

"We've done it before," said Smith. "We have excellent places to do it."

In his letter to the governor, Smith wrote that the state owns two "ideal locations" for a screening site -- an abandoned welcome center and a new welcome center that is currently closed to visitors.

Smith said he would like for vehicles traveling west over the bridge to be stopped when they get to Arkansas. People in the car would be asked if they minded being screened for the coronavirus, he said. If they didn't mind, they would be questioned about their health and their temperatures would be taken.

If the travelers appeared to be ill, they would be asked to get further testing, said Smith. Virus test kits have been in short supply nationwide.

Smith said a next logical step would be to send ill travelers to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences East, which has a campus in Helena, but that facility is closed now, he said.

Smith said the travelers couldn't be told to go back to Mississippi.

Smith said he has spoken about the issue with representatives of the Arkansas Department of Health and Arkansas Division of Emergency Management. But as of late Friday, he hadn't been able to talk to the governor about it.

A.J. Gary, director of the Division of Emergency Management, said he talked with Smith a week or so ago about the idea of screenings at the bridge.

Gary said he was mostly asking questions.

If people are screened at the bridge, and they appear to be sick, what's the plan? asked Gary.

"There weren't really answers to that," he said.

"I don't think there could be any mandate to do anything," said Gary. "You can't make 'em go back. How do you prevent them from coming into the state?"

In his letter, Smith also asked Hutchinson for more testing to be done in the Delta, where access to health care can be an issue. He said online maps that track the virus make it look like outbreaks are happening in particular counties, but that's because more testing is being done there.

"I plead with you to look at the Arkansas map of confirmed cases and notice the distribution and access to that testing," wrote Smith. "They are predictably being done where healthcare access is already among the best in the state -- Little Rock, Fayetteville, Hot Springs, Conway, Jonesboro and so forth. In the Delta, and some Ozark counties, access to healthcare has always been the weakest, and hence today we have had very little screening or testing.

"Please, I am pleading with you and your team, locate screening and testing in the areas where access is least."

"On the question of testing," Hutchinson said, "the Arkansas Department of Health affirms that there are testing sites in Helena and Marvell and are ready to test as needed. We continue to expand testing capability in Arkansas."

Smith said Hutchinson was referring to Helena Regional Medical Center and a clinic in Marvell.

Smith said patients have to be screened before they can be tested, and not much screening is taking place in Helena-West Helena.

According to an interactive online map from the state's emergency management agency, there were 2,009 virus test results in the state, but only eight of them were for Phillips County residents. All eight tested negative.

According to the map at https://bit.ly/33Ozyju, there were no completed test results at all for four counties: Lee (just north of Phillips County), Newton County in the Ozark Mountains, and two counties in southwest Arkansas -- Little River and Lafayette.

If the Phillips County hospital and clinic mentioned by the governor were "ready to test as needed," "then how can we only have had eight tests?" asked Smith.

By contrast, 348 tests had been completed for Pulaski County residents.

"The reason for the testing results we see on the map today is because the testing is being done where access to health care is at its best in Arkansas," said Smith.

Smith said the state tells people to go online and use the Health Department's website, healthy.arkansas.gov, to self screen, but many people in the Delta don't have computers or access to the internet.

He said some Helena doctors had been doing screenings on their front porches.

"We don't have remote, drive-thru, accessible places to screen," said Smith. "That is the key, screening. They will not let you get near a test unless you've been screened, period."

Smith said a normal way for black people to communicate is through church on Sundays. But with the coronavirus pandemic in full swing, churches have canceled services. So that eliminates an opportunity to pass out pamphlets to congregations to tell them about the virus and to encourage screening, he said.

As of Friday, Pulaski County led Arkansas with 89 confirmed cases of covid-19, followed by Cleburne County with 49 and Faulkner County with 28. Arkansas has had 384 confirmed cases of covid-19 and three people have died of the disease.

Mississippi had 579 confirmed cases and eight deaths as of Friday. DeSoto County, just south of Memphis, led Mississippi with 63 cases.

In his letter, Smith also wants Hutchinson to ask President Donald Trump to activate the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Coast Guard to assist port cities along the Mississippi River.

"The Lower Mississippi River is the poorest, and at the bottom of every U.S. health statistic," wrote Smith, who is secretary of the executive committee of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, an association of mayors.

"In terms of the Corps of Engineers," Hutchinson said, "I have spoken directly to General Paul Owen, commander of the Southwest Division, and we are coordinating assistance as needed. Currently, we are working with the Corps engineers to help us develop plans for hospital capacity expansion needs in our state as the covid-19 cases are expected to increase."

Smith said Hutchinson wasn't talking about the Mississippi River area. He said the Corps can provide the same type of assistance along the Mississippi River that the National Guard provides to other areas.

"The last thing I want to do is showboat a serious issue like this," said Smith. "That is not what this is about. But at some point, we need more attention."

A Section on 03/28/2020