Fourteen more covid-19 deaths have been reported in Arkansas, raising the toll to 535, the Arkansas Department of Health announced Saturday.
Those fatalities did not all occur in the 24 hours ending Saturday afternoon, however. Four of them occurred in June, followed by four more in July and six this month, department spokeswoman Meg Mirivel said.
Of the eight cases from June and July, seven were linked to nursing homes, Mirivel said.
Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, the state epidemiologist, said health care providers typically notify the Health Department of covid-19 deaths, though there are sometimes lags in reporting. In other cases, department officials glean the information from death certificates that are submitted.
The highest number of deaths reported in a single day was 20 on July 28, Mirivel said.
The total number of reported coronavirus cases in Arkansas climbed to 48,811 on Saturday, an increase of 772 over the previous day.
Of the newly reported covid-19 cases, 74 were linked to correctional facilities.
The number of reported hospitalizations fell by 26 to 497. Of those, 117 were on ventilators, up one from the previous day.
Most of the people who have tested positive for the virus — 40,977 — have already recovered. Another 7,299 are still active cases, meaning they continue to battle the infection.
The number of new cases was lower than the 1,011 announced Friday, but higher than the 662 reported last Saturday.
Full details will be in Sunday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.