LITTLE ROCK – The steering committee that Governor Asa Hutchinson created to recommend the best use of federal aid during the COVID-19 pandemic will utilize ZOOM technology in order to achieve social distancing when it meets for the first time at 4 p.m. today, the Governor announced.

The $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which President Trump signed on March 27, is a federal relief package designed to blunt the economic damage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The act will provide direct economic assistance to American workers, families, and small businesses.

Governor Hutchinson also announced today that Arkansas Medicaid Inspector General Elizabeth Smith will chair the fifteen-member Arkansas CARES Act Steering Committee, and Arkansas Surgeon General Greg Bledsoe will be vice chair.

“The members of this committee have committed to determine the most pressing needs of the state and to recommend a plan to best deploy the federal assistance,” Governor Hutchinson said. “We are only beginning to understand the long-term effects of this pandemic. I am grateful for their willingness to lend their time and wisdom to tackle this unprecedented challenge without the benefit of a roadmap that is based on a similar event in our history."

The fifteen members Governor Hutchinson appointed to the committee include six members of the General Assembly.

If you are not a member of the media and have questions or concerns about COVID-19, you can contact the Arkansas Department of Health at 1-800-803-7847 or visit ar.gov/covid.