Category: Student_Work

In Little Rock, four mass COVID-19 vaccination events are planned for April 10, May 1, May 22, and June 12. They will be large-scale clinics held at the Simmons Bank Arena between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Each clinic is prepared to vaccinate 1000 to 2000 people, and UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson says they are “working together with the state’s cities, counties, insurers and nonprofit organizations, we try to ensure that none of Arkansas’ 3 million residents will fall through the cracks. All of us want to maximize access to vaccines in as many ways as we can”.

According to Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde, “fewer than 30 percent of [Pulaski County’s] population has received at least one dose, and approximately 12 percent are fully vaccinated. All eligible vaccine recipients are strongly encouraged to receive a vaccine at the first opportunity.” Anyone 16 or older is currently eligible to receive a vaccine, but those under 18 hoping to receive a shot need to come with a parent or guardian. Face masks are required and, while there is no out-of-pocket cost to receive the vaccine, clinic attendees are encouraged to bring insurance cards and valid IDs.

State Senator Linda Chesterfield encourages everyone eligible to get vaccinated as soon as possible: “I’ve had a family member who died from COVID-19, so it is very personal for me. It is important that every Arkansan get vaccinated, and we can do that with vaccination efforts like this one.” The necessity of receiving the vaccine as soon as possible is a common theme among speakers, with state Rep. Jamie Scott saying that “with more efforts like this one across the state, we can defeat the virus and earn a victory for public health.” Simmons Bank Arena has a seating capacity of 18,000, and its general manager Michael Marion says “we have hosted many types of activities, performances and celebrities, but few, if any, have had the importance of these vaccination clinics.”

On Tuesday, March 30, Mayor Greg Hines Announced that Rogers will be keeping their mask ordinance as long as the statewide emergency order is set in place, despite Governor Hutchinson ending the statewide mask mandate this week.  

According to a city press release, Mayor Hines made the decision in order to allow more people to get fully vaccinated before removing the ordinance.  

According to Andrew Mize, owner of Debbie’s Family Pharmacy in Rogers, the immunization efforts in Rogers have been going smoothly.  Mize said that the only hitch was finding a way to schedule so many appointments, since many pharmacists have never experienced such a massive rush for vaccines before.  

The first week of the vaccine rollout was the hardest, Mize said in a phone interview. Since there was no scheduling system in place, nearly 9,000 vaccination appointments were made the first day they opened, even though each pharmacy is only allocated roughly 120 doses each week.  

Because of this, Debbie’s family Pharmacy switched to a mass clinic approach instead of individual appointments in order to make scheduling easier for anyone who wants to receive the vaccine.  One day per week is chosen and all of the doses are administered during the clinic.  

Mize said Debbie’s Family Pharmacy has been giving all of their doses each week, although some larger pharmacies have been seeing a lull in vaccine appointments being made.  

According to Mize, learning to operate such a massive effort has made pharmacists across Northwest Arkansas put their heads together to brainstorm new and innovative ideas, as well as learn how to adapt.  

“I think the city of Rogers is in a tough position, I think they’re making the best decision they could with the information they have but people should just be patient.  The more vaccines we can administer the safer our community will be,” Mize said.  

Steve Cox, Senior Vice President of Economic Development at the Chamber of Commerce, said that the mask ordinance has not negatively affected business and that the city has seen record sales tax collection, almost record employment numbers and a booming real estate market.  

“I feel like public health is not something to take lightly and we know the decision was not made in a vacuum. We all  want to make sure that we’re being cautious,” Cox said in a phone interview.

Cox said the city is specifically eager for more tourism, events and conventions to return to Rogers in the coming months.  

“In any major economic event there are going to be challenges,” Cox said, “Rogers has shown a very resilient spirit and our community rose up and met those challenges, now we are ready to get going and back to business,”

By Caroline Sellers

Arkansascovid.com

Arkansas County has currently fully vaccinated 2,776 people making it the third-highest county for full vaccination in the Southeastern region of the state, according to the most recent Arkansas Department of Health data from March 31.

Jefferson County currently leads the Southeastern region, which is composed of 14 counties, with the highest full vaccination count of 6,433. St. Francis County currently comes in second with 3,246 people fully vaccinated.

Arkansas County currently has an estimated population of 18,124. The county has 36 total deaths, 2,077 total positive cases and currently has 10 active cases.

Zack Smith, a pharmacist at Professional Pharmacy in Stuttgart, says that his pharmacy has vaccinated between 500 to 1,000 people. The pharmacy has received only the Moderna vaccine according to Smith.

Stuttgart is located in Arkansas County and has an estimated population of 8,490 according to the latest data from the United States Census Bureau.

“We are a smaller pharmacy so I think we have been in pretty good shape,” Smith said when asked if he thinks his pharmacy has received a good amount of the vaccine.

“Probably the majority of the people that want it in this area have probably gotten it or are scheduled to get it,” Smith said.

The 7 day rolling average of new cases is now at its lowest point since early June 2020. Since the peak of new cases in January shortly after Christmas, there has been a decline of new cases, which has gotten faster and faster as the weather turns warmer and more people get vaccinated. Lately, according to the ADH, people 16 and older will be eligible, which will hopefully decrease new cases even more.

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Jefferson County has 48 active COVID-19 cases, the highest number in the Southeast region of the state, according to March 24 data from the Arkansas Department of Health 

The major hospital in the area, the Jefferson Regional Medical Center (JRMC) in Pine Bluff, has seen a slight bump up in cases, with nine COVID-19 patients as of March 23, said Jamie McCombs, the Director of Communications and Public Relations for the hospital.

“A few weeks ago our numbers were down a little bit and they have gone up some since then,” McCombs said. “It’s not anywhere near as high as we were right in the middle of the pandemic but in the last few weeks the number has gone up just a little.” 

St. Francis County follows behind Jefferson County with 19 active cases and Arkansas County is next with 18 active cases, according to March 24 data from the ADH. Jefferson County, home to 70,424 people, overall has reported 8,717 total positive COVID-19 cases and 161 total deaths due to the virus, according to ADH data.

Since the COVID-19 case load dropped significantly, Jefferson Regional Medical Center shifted operations and no longer has an entire floor dedicated to treating patients with the virus. Just part of one floor is assigned for COVID-19 patients, McCombs said.

McCombs said there’s been progress in vaccinating both staff and the public. As of March 18, JRMC has vaccinated 664 employees, according to McCombs.

As of March 22, Jefferson County has vaccinated 10,796 people with the first dose and 5,010 people with the second dose, according to ADH data. 

“When I go into the community, everybody is wearing a mask,” McCombs said. “People are abiding by the guidelines and they are wearing their masks from what I have encountered.”

 MAPS IN TABLEAU
 Basic Mapping Build a chart with the Arkansas schools with the highest default rates –Longitude to Columns, Latitude to Rows. Don’t use Longitude (generated). Generates a blank Arkansas map –Instnm to Labels. Your map now has all colleges –CDR3 to Color. Green-Red Diverging, with Red as highest default –Filter by CDR3 for top 10 default rates in state Dual Axis Maps Tutorial https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/maps_dualaxis.html 
 FYI Only - We will deal with animation in Flourish. But in case you are interested....  Build Animated Student Loan Graphic - Make Screen Video - Add to Posts Look at the data structure: Tidy Data 1) Process Data (2008-2016) --R Demonstration using Student Loan Data Management 10-15-19.R --Examine Combined Data 2) Build Animated Student Loan Debt, 2008-16 3) Screen video 4) Embed in post, loop, autoplay Embedding Videos in Tableau https://kb.tableau.com/articles/howto/adding-embedded-videos-to-dashboards Add video to published Razorback Reporter stories https://razorbackreporter.uark.edu/student-loans-in-arkansas/   

Dual Mapping - Bubble Maps 

 
Tutorial
https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/maps_dualaxis.html


Using Student Loan Data: ARDebt9-17
New sheet, begin map: double click on ZIP
Marks Card | Map
Drag White students to Color box, Convert to Average.

Click on Longitude pill in Columns. Press Command. Drag to Right. Release mouse
–Creates two Longitude pills and two maps
–Marks Card Now Has Controls for Two Maps

Marks Card Has Two Maps. 
Lower Map, Drag UGDS Black to color. Marks Card, switch to Circle. Change Color to Orange.
Upper Map, Drag UGDS White to color, Change Color scheme to Green
In Columns, Select Down Arrow on Longitude | Dual Axis
--Maps are combined 

Drag City to Marks Card | Tooltip

Edit Tooltips so data displays properly
--Select Worksheet > Tooltip. Rename the items so they are in English!
--UGDS_BLACK = Black Enrollment.
--Format | Pane | Fields AVG(UGDS _ Black) | Default | Numbers | Percentage to one decimal