Arkansas' governors have a fine history of fudging and squirming with the facts. That old bit about, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," is one of the all-time great lines.
Governor Asa Hutchinson made his contribution to the cause yesterday. As reported by CNN, Hutchinson described this week's increase in COVID-19 cases as a "second peak." Well, there's fudging, and then there's just plain making stuff up.
I squinted at Arkansas' numbers for a good long while, and if there was a first peak, I just cannot figure out where it was. Arkansas' numbers have continually climbed from the get-go. Up and up and up. As one of the states that failed to enact a stay-at-home order, Arkansas has evidently committed to the fiction that at some point they had seen the worst. Not true. Arkansas is in the same boat as other southern and midwestern states. The first wave has now reached them, and it's likely to get ugly.
Bob Dietz
May 23, 2020
