Hot Springs National Park announced Friday it will be reinstating its mask mandate for all federal buildings following Thursday's recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC upgraded Garland County to a high level of community spread of COVID-19, leading the national park to reinstate its mask mandate.
"Hot Springs National Park is following CDC and state health authorities and implementing a mask mandate for all federally operated buildings," a news release said. "This mandate will be in effect as long as the community level remains in HIGH."
The Arkansas Department of Health reports that Garland County has 331 active cases of COVID-19.
Hot Springs City Manager Bill Burrough and County Judge Darryl Mahoney said there will be no changes to the masking policies for the city or county at this time.
"We look at the hospitalizations and our own count within the city to monitor, you know, what those decisions will be, and right now we have such a low case count in our hospitals, we have a very low case count in the city employees, and so we don't plan to implement a mask mandate," Burrough said.
"However, we will continue to recommend and certainly for those that feel vulnerable, they're welcome to wear a mask every day if they'd like to," he said. "But right now, we're not going to make the decision to have a mandate unless we see some significant numbers change."
Burrough said while the numbers in Garland County are trending upward, symptoms that have been noted among city employees have been minor.
"We know that the positives are moving upward, but what we're seeing is it's almost like a flu, you know," he said. "There's very few that are actually having any kind of severe effects. Even within our employees it's, you know, a runny nose, those kinds of things. It's really not had an impact. We're gonna continue to monitor, and we stand ready to implement a mandate should we see those numbers change or that we see severity change."
Mahoney said the county has not changed its policy on recommending masks for staff and the public since ending its last mandate on Oct. 18, 2021.
"We've never stopped from highly recommending -- our signage is still up to recommend wearing masks," he said. "I don't foresee a mandate coming down, but in our buildings, we still recommend that you wear one in here. Of course, everybody's had ample time to have a vaccine and boosters now.
"And what we're seeing mainly with this new variant is the symptoms are a lot milder than they were with the first. So I don't foresee a change coming. You know, that could always change next week, but right now, got a healthy group in here, and we recommend you wear a mask and, of course, it's always a personal choice to do that. So, right now we're going to stay where we're at."
Neither National Park Medical Center nor CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs has made any changes to mask or visitation rules due to the upgraded transmission status of the county.
"CHI St. Vincent never lifted their universal masking policy for the hospitals, so those policies still remain in place," said hospital spokesman Joshua Cook.
"We haven't changed our masking policy," said NPMC Marketing and Communication Director Mandy Golleher. "Masks are required for all who enter the hospital, and I think the most important thing that I would want to tag on to that is that the hospital continues to be a very safe place to be.
"We want to make sure that, you know, regardless of the current climate of COVID in the community, that people aren't delaying the care for anything else that they may need, in addition to COVID. So our emergency department is open 24/7 and ready to see anyone who needs to be seen. Don't ignore those important symptoms of heart disease, chest pain, any of the stroke symptoms, making sure that people are being seen for those emergencies is so important."
The facility has not made any changes to its visitation policies.
"Our visitation remains normal open visitation policy, and any changes and updates, we will maintain those on our website," Golleher said. "But as of right now, it's the regular visitation. There aren't any additional restrictions, in addition to what would typically be in place."
The Hot Springs Convention Center is also not making any changes to its mask guidance, according to Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison.
"We're gonna stay where we are," he said. "You know, it's up to our individual employees. You know, we're obviously letting them know that the risk level went to red, but we're not changing any of our policies at this time."
Employees in the facility were mandated to wear masks while in groups in the building or meeting with a client in late May, but Arrison said that policy is no longer in effect. The policy was implemented after three or four employees at the facility had positive tests in under a week.
No changes have been made at National Park College at this time.
"We haven't made a decision yet and will likely wait until closer to the beginning of the semester to determine what the fall will look like," said Vice President for External Affairs Darla Thurber. "As far as right now, we are not enforcing them but continue to encourage them any time there is a surge."
A sign at the Fordyce Bath House reminds the public of to wear masks after Hot Springs National Park reinstated its mask mandate for employees and the public due to the increased rate of transmission in Garland County Friday. - Photo by Lance Porter of The Sentinel-Record