The Marshall Islands consul general, in northwest Arkansas in the United States, says the rate of Covid-19 infections in the community seems to be flattening.
The Marshall Islands Consul-General in Arkansas, Eldon Alik, during a mask distribution drive Photo: RMI Consulate Arkansas
Eldon Alik said the death toll among the Marshallese community in the region was at least 30 to date, with hundreds more infected.
But he said those numbers appeared to be coming down.
"The numbers this week they don't climb as much as past weeks. Before we used to have, like, every week, over a hundred, but this week it's only double digits," he said.
"I think we only gained 30, 30 more are infected from last week."
Mr Alik said despite earlier calls for the poultry plants to be shut down, where many of the Marshallese work, they had been cleared by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and continued to operate.
The Marshallese were also particularly vulnerable because of their communal style of living, often up to 10 in a single dwelling.
But Mr Alik said says were becoming more receptive to messages about social distancing.