Virus's toll up to 600 in Arkansas

Data cleanup cuts case tally

This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes covid-19.
This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes covid-19.

Fourteen additional deaths from covid-19 pushed the state's total to 600, the Arkansas Department of Health reported Saturday.

The agency reported 851 new covid-19 cases since Friday, and the state's total is now 51,992. There were 140 new cases in correctional facilities and 711 in the community.

Daily case numbers have remained well below 800 in recent days, making the increase Saturday a noteworthy jump.

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Any large, single-day numbers later this week are likely to put additional pressure on officials who are meeting some resistance to plans to reopen schools for in-person instruction in a week's time. Students from kindergarten through 12th grade are scheduled to return to classrooms on Aug. 24.

On Saturday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson referred to the coming school year in a Twitter post announcing the day's new virus cases, writing, "As we're less than one week away from school starting, we must do our part to bring new cases down & slow the spread."

"Students need school, so let's make sure we do everything we can to help," Hutchinson added.

Of the 14 deaths reported Saturday, one each occurred in Pope, Sebastian, Dallas, Craighead, Newton, Howard and Arkansas counties, according to a Department of Health spokesman. Seven deaths were reported in Randolph County.

The number of active covid-19 cases in the state increased from 6,359 on Friday to 6,487 as of Saturday. However, the number of individuals hospitalized because of covid-19 and the number of patients on ventilators declined.

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Hospitalizations decreased from 466 to 464 Saturday. The number of patients on ventilators dropped from 113 to 108. Results from 5,744 virus tests were received by the Department of Health on Friday.

In an interview Saturday, state epidemiologist Dr. Jennifer Dillaha said the number of new cases is often influenced by the amount of testing in hot-spot areas, but officials worry whenever case numbers go up.

The decline in the number of hospitalizations from a peak of more than 500 earlier this month is a good sign, she said.

"To me, hospitalizations is one of the better markers for the severity of the pandemic in Arkansas," Dillaha said. "And I believe we're seeing a little bit of a downward trend in the rest of the country, as well, although we still do have some hot spots."

"And that is something we want to keep down, thinking ahead to flu season, which also makes hospitalizations go up," she said.

As for covid-19 deaths continuing in the state, Dillaha said, "of course, we'll continue to see deaths. My hope is that we will be able to minimize the deaths by the efforts we're making to do those things that we've all been talking about -- social distancing, cloth face coverings and good hand hygiene."

Nevertheless, Dillaha said the state has done relatively well in terms of deaths because of proactive efforts in regard to covid-19 outbreaks in nursing homes.

With at least 160 deaths associated with nursing homes, they account for more than one-quarter of the state's deaths from covid-19, according to the Department of Health's web portal that tracks the outbreak.

If residents continue to exercise precautions to protect older adults from exposure, "I think we can have a beneficial impact for that population," Dillaha said.

DATA CLEANUP

The state has worked to clean up its covid-19 data by employing an outside firm to remove cases of individuals who do not live in Arkansas, according to an official with the Department of Health.

The department's deputy chief science officer, Dr. Austin Porter, explained that the state recently contracted with a third-party vendor to identify people who, for one reason or another, were tested for covid-19 in Arkansas but live outside the state.

The state will be "reducing the number of positives that we have been reporting," Porter said in an interview. Those individuals have been removed from the department's data as of the case update on Saturday, Porter said.

The reduced number of cumulative infections was evident in the state's data Saturday. The Department of Health showed cases declining from 52,392 as of Friday to 51,992 on Saturday.

According to Department of Health spokesman Gavin Lesnick, one previously reported death was removed from Friday's total, originally listed as 587, because it was either a duplicate or an out-of-state resident.

"We're going through the process now of cleaning up the data, and through that, we're going to be reducing the number of positives that we have been reporting and increasing the number of negatives that we're going to be pulling in," Porter said.

Also, missing county information has been filled in for individuals who took virus tests but did not indicate their counties of residence, he said.

In the interview, Porter declined to name the contractor working with the state.

When asked if one downside to removing individuals who live out of state from the data might be that the numbers no longer reflect individuals who tested positive and therefore could have transmitted the virus while in Arkansas, Porter said, "Not necessarily."

Some of those individuals might live in border counties and travel to Arkansas for work, he said. He explained that health authorities are "pretty aggressive" about making contact with individuals who test positive, even if they were in Arkansas temporarily for contract work or for other reasons.

The department had to work with the third-party vendor to "correctly assign those numbers to the proper state," he said.

CORRECTION: The Arkansas Department of Health showed cases declining from 52,393 as of Friday to 51,992 on Saturday. An earlier version of this article listed an incorrect number of cases on Friday.

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