Just last month, Arkansas’ Republican governor was defending his decision to forego a statewide stay-at-home order as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Now that a high school swim party was linked to a cluster of new COVID-19 cases, Gov. Asa Hutchinson is warning residents of the dangers of failing to adhere to social distancing guidelines. “A high school swim party that I’m sure everybody thought was harmless,” he said at a media briefing Saturday. “They’re young, they’re swimming, they’re just having activity, and positive cases resulted from that.”
It’s quite the flip-flop from Hutchinson’s earlier stance that the state’s limited population density would protect it from needing to shelter in place. "We have masks and social distancing and the people of Arkansas have embraced that. That gives you success," Hutchinson said. He added that he is taking a “long-term approach” to the pandemic. “And you're not going to win simply by a lockdown," Hutchinson said.