and grant counties until march 30. on march 14, governor hutchinson activated the arkansas national guard to provide support with logistics, transportation, and other needs. all public schools were ordered to close beginning tuesday, march 17. on march 17, governor hutchinson closed casinos for two weeks and loosened restrictions on claiming unemployment benefits for 30 days. on march 19, hutchinson announced new measures to help limit the spread of the disease, including keeping public schools closed through april 17 and banning restaurants and bars from providing dine-in services. on march 23, the individual income tax filing deadline was pushed back until july 15, and barber shops, beauty and nail salons, massage parlors, and tattoo parlors were ordered to close on tuesday, march 24. on april 3, state parks began to limit their available parking spaces and ended overnight stays. on april 6, the governor ordered public schools to close for the remainder of the school year. governor hutchinson announced on july 9, 2020, that the start date for public schools would be changed from august 13 to august 24, giving school districts more time to plan for opening during the covid-19 pandemic. according to johnny key, the arkansas secretary of education, many districts would have been ready on august 13, but some districts had requested more time. although hutchinson expects to see positive cases in the public schools during the fall semester, he was quoted as saying "we will just have to deal with it." in april 2021, the arkansas general assembly passed a ban on mask mandates (sb 590), and governor hutchinson approved the ban. in august, governor hutchinson said he regretted the ban. little rock on march 16, little rock mayor frank scott, jr. announced a citywide curfew to keep residents from being outside from midnight to 5 a.m. beginning wednesday, march 18. this did not apply to people traveling to and from work. little rock police officers would question people in public places, but not stop drivers. additionally, homeless individuals would not be cited. on march 25, scott extended the curfew to begin at 9 p.m. and end at 5 a.m. he also announced the introduction of a daytime curfew for minors from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. that would be in effect from march 30 to april 17. scott issued an executive order on june 25, 2020, that required the use of masks in public spaces where a social distance of 6 ft. could not be maintained. fayetteville on march 16, the fayetteville city council voted unanimously to grant the mayor emergency powers to regulate gatherings. the council also appropriated $3 million in emergency funds to address the pandemic locally. the fayetteville city council passed an ordinance on june 16, 2020, that required masks to be worn in most indoor public locations. the next day (june 17, 2020), governor hutchinson, during his daily press briefing, indicated that he opposed the fayetteville mask ordinance, stating that he preferred that cities not take this action resulting in different cities having different ordinances. he stated that he would rather have city leaders encourage wearing of masks using education and leading by example. impact k-12 schools the governor initially ordered public schools to close by march 17, 2020, and mandated they would remain closed through the end of spring break the following week. since the public health situation did not improve significantly over the next few weeks, on april 6 the governor ordered all public schools to remain closed for the remainder of the year with education taking place using online methods. the governor and ivy pfeffer, the deputy education commissioner, introduced a plan on june 11 for onsite class education in the fall. a document titled "arkansas ready for learning" was released by the arkansas department of education with guidance for schools as they planned for the school year. the document included suggestions for providing blended and online learning opportunities for students. after a delayed start date for the fall semester for arkansas public schools was announced by governor hutchinson (during the week of august 24), several groups objected to this plan. the arkansas public policy panel and arkansas citizens first congress suggested that in-person instruction should be delayed until all school districts can meet guidelines suggested by the centers for disease control and prevention and the american academy of pediatrics. the arkansas chapter of the american academy of pediatrics released a statement that indicated it could not support a return to statewide in-person instruction in arkansas public schools during the month of august. the little rock education association requested that the school year start with at least two weeks of online education. these changes to the statewide plan were rejected by governor hutchinson during his july 21, 2020 news conference. as a response, hutchinson highlighted a video interview of several pediatricians that advocated for a return to in-person classroom instruction. colleges and universities arkansas state university in jonesboro announced on march 15 that beginning tuesday, march 17, all in-person instructions would transition to all-online instructions for the remainder of the semester. the campus would remain open. graduation ceremonies would be reevaluated as they got closer. southeast arkansas college in pine bluff closed on march 11 after three students had been exposed to the original pine bluff patient. southern arkansas university in magnolia announced on march 12 that it was canceling all face-to-face classes scheduled for the week of march 16 through march 20, prior to the week of spring break. course delivery would shift fully online beginning march 30 and continuing through the end of the semester. the campus was not closed and housing, dining, and other services would remain in operation. the university of arkansas at fayetteville announced on march 12 that it was suspending all in-person classes immediately and would begin online courses starting monday, march 16, and continue through the end of the semester. the campus was not closed and housing, dining, and other services would remain in operation. after a student tested positive for covid-19 on march 24, the university announced it would be closing campus and gave students until april 3 to leave. on october 30, the university announced the cancellation of spring break 2021, instead opting to split the 5 day break into a series of shorter breaks to discourage travel. the university of arkansas at little rock announced on the afternoon of march 12, 2020 that in-person instruction would transition immediately to online instruction. the campus would remain open. graduation ceremonies would be reevaluated as they got closer. the university of arkansas at monticello (uam) announced on march 17 that all instructions would move to an online setting through the end of the semester. the university remained open, including residence halls and food services. on march 19, uam, based on a recommendation from the university of arkansas board of trustees, announced that spring commencement exercises would be postponed and graduates would be invited to participate in the december 11 commencement ceremony. sports the arkansas activities association announced on march 12, 2020, via twitter that all spring sports and activities would be suspended march 15–30, with plans to reassess at that time. in college sports, the national collegiate athletic association cancelled all winter and spring tournaments, most notably the division i men's and women's basketball tournaments, affecting colleges and universities statewide. on march 16, the national junior college athletic association also canceled the remainder of the winter seasons as well as the spring seasons. the national collegiate athletic association (ncaa) allowed for voluntary athletics activities in football and basketball starting june 1, 2020. some student athlete requirements, including a minimum football attendance for football bowl subdivision members and playing a certain number of division 1 games for other student athletes, were lifted so that students could comply with covid-19 safety guidelines. governor hutchinson announced on july 31, 2020, during his coronavirus briefing that football practice would be allowed with no-contact rules. other sports like volleyball and cheerleading were also expected to resume. governor hutchinson asked arkansas activities association to submit plans for contact sports to resume in fall 2020. religion on january 28, 2021, the arkansas house passed hb 1211 by a 75–10 vote, preventing the governor from restricting church services. under this bill, the governor may not "enforce a health, safety, or occupancy requirement...that imposes a substantial burden on a religious organization" unless the governor proves that it is the "least restrictive" way to achieve a "compelling governmental interest." statistics covid-19 pandemic medical cases in arkansas by county county cases deaths population cases / 100k 75 / 75 995,043 13,115 3,017,804 32,972.4 arkansas 7,000 98 17,486 40,032.0 ashley 6,361 85 19,657 32,360.0 baxter 11,058 283 41,932 26,371.3 benton 80,710 1,018 279,141 28,913.7 boone 11,530 203 37,432 30,802.5 bradley 3,676 58 10,763 34,154.0 calhoun 1,231 15 5,189 23,723.3 carroll 7,470 122 28,380 26,321.4 chicot 3,136 64 10,118 30,994.3 clark 6,457 93 22,320 28,929.2 clay 5,291 105 14,551 36,361.8 cleburne 8,208 146 24,919 32,938.7 cleveland 2,738 42 7,956 34,414.3 columbia 7,102 106 23,457 30,276.7 conway 6,914 83 20,846 33,167.0 craighead 47,804 384 110,332 43,327.4 crawford 19,044 293 63,257 30,105.8 crittenden 16,876 245 47,955 35,191.3 cross 5,937 106 16,419 36,159.3 dallas 2,179 42 7,009 31,088.6 desha 3,646 43 11,361 32,092.2 drew 5,804 82 18,219 31,856.9 faulkner 43,861 368 126,007 34,808.4 franklin 4,697 85 17,715 26,514.3 fulton 3,298 106 12,477 26,432.6 garland 27,866 580 99,386 28,038.2 grant 5,525 67 18,265 30,249.1 greene 20,221 196 45,325 44,613.3 hempstead 5,904 81 21,532 27,419.7 hot spring 13,457 162 33,771 39,847.8 howard 4,722 65 13,202 35,767.3 independence 13,051 231 37,825 34,503.6 izard 4,830 81 13,629 35,439.1 jackson 7,438 78 16,719 44,488.3 jefferson 22,453 318 66,824 33,600.2 johnson 8,422 105 26,578 31,687.9 lafayette 1,586 31 6,624 23,943.2 lawrence 6,588 87 16,406 40,156.0 lee 3,358 69 8,857 37,913.5 lincoln 5,530 70 13,024 42,460.1 little river 4,009 110 12,259 32,702.5 logan 6,224 94 21,466 28,994.7 lonoke 24,233 269 73,309 33,056.0 madison 4,967 67 16,576 29,965.0 marion 4,273 100 16,694 25,596.0 miller 11,994 212 43,257 27,727.3 mississippi 16,760 238 40,651 41,229.0 monroe 2,337 39 6,701 34,875.4 montgomery 1,902 68 8,986 21,166.3 nevada 2,831 48 8,252 34,306.8 newton 2,093 52 7,753 26,996.0 ouachita 6,905 127 23,382 29,531.3 perry 3,043 42 10,455 29,105.7 phillips 5,920 110 17,782 33,292.1 pike 3,030 48 10,718 28,270.2 poinsett 10,290 140 23,528 43,735.1 polk 4,738 162 19,964 23,732.7 pope 21,269 227 64,072 33,195.5 prairie 2,482 47 8,062 30,786.4 pulaski 129,635 1,332 391,911 33,077.7 randolph 6,681 110 17,958 37,203.5 saline 39,023 414 122,437 31,871.9 scott 3,093 50 10,281 30,084.6 searcy 2,613 53 7,881 33,155.7 sebastian 40,255 596 127,827 31,491.8 sevier 7,233 83 17,007 42,529.5 sharp 5,753 120 17,442 32,983.6 st. francis 8,603 110 24,994 34,420.3 stone 3,852 82 12,506 30,801.2 union 11,612 211 38,682 30,019.1 van buren 4,477 67 16,545 27,059.5 washington 82,093 701 239,187 34,321.7 white 27,828 340 78,753 35,335.8 woodruff 2,343 32 6,320 37,072.8 yell 7,670 118 21,341 35,940.2 updated may 10, 2023data is publicly reported by arkansas department of health county where individuals with a positive case reside. location of diagnosis and treatment may vary. reported confirmed and probable cases. actual case numbers are probably higher. july 2019 population estimate from "u.s. census bureau quick facts: arkansas". united states census bureau. retrieved june 8, 2020.