By Associated Press - Wednesday, April 15, 2020

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The federal government has approved Arkansas’ plan to use Medicaid funds to pay bonuses to health workers at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities during the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Wednesday.

Hutchinson announced the bonuses as health officials said the number of people in the state who had tested positive for the new coronavirus had increased to at least 1,569. One more person died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, bringing the state’s total deaths to 33.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

Officials said more that 26,000 non-physician direct-care workers at the facilities, including registered nurses and home health aides, will be eligible for the payments.

“This is extraordinarily good news for those who have been on the front line,” Hutchinson said

The governor said he’ll ask a state panel to approve using some of the money Arkansas is receiving in federal coronavirus relief for similar bonuses for direct-care workers at hospitals and non-direct care workers at hospitals and nursing homes.

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