Health officials recorded an additional 572 cases of the coronavirus in Arkansas on Monday, and both Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Health Secretary Nate Smith raised concerns about a slowdown in testing.
While new cases reported over each of the past two days fell far short of Saturday's single-day high of 1,061, the state's active cases -- the number of infected people who have not yet recovered or died -- continued to creep upward, reaching 6,510 cases on Monday, Smith said.
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The state reported that 28,939 Arkansans have tested positive for the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of deaths rose by two on Monday, to 323.
During his near-daily briefing on the pandemic, Hutchinson on Monday brought attention to a decrease in testing performed in the state, which the governor attributed to increased competition with larger states for use of commercial facilities, even as state facilities have ramped up testing.
Hutchinson, a Republican, said he felt he has become a "singular national voice" calling on President Donald Trump to order the use of the Defense Production Act to expand testing for covid-19.
"That is a concern to me," Hutchinson said. "I've challenged Dr. Smith and the Department of Health, is there ways we can expand even within the Department of Health our testing capacity, because that's one thing we do control. Now when I say we do control it, we're still dependent upon reagents and testing equipment, but if we can build it there, I want us to be able to do it."
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A total of 68,515 coronavirus tests have been performed on Arkansans in July, short of the pace Hutchinson set earlier this month when he called for 200,000 tests by July 31.
"We're going to have to pick up the pace if we're going to get to 200,000," Smith said.
HOSPITALIZATIONS UP
Hospitalizations for covid-19 continued to rise on Monday, reaching another new high of 439 patients, an increase of 19 from the previous day.
Smith said some of the increase was due to an outbreak at the Arkansas State Hospital, a psychiatric facility, and that other hospitalizations may be linked to festivities from the Fourth of July holiday.
Statewide, Hutchinson said, hospitals have enough capacity to handle the growing number of covid-19 cases. Some hospitals facing strains because of the coronavirus may have to cut down on other, nonessential services, Smith said.
"We have adequate hospital capacity to meet the needs of citizens, but we don't want to strain the staff, we don't want to put pressure on the alternative, or the surgeries that are not absolutely necessary," Hutchinson said.
The intensive care unit at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital in Little Rock remained at maximum capacity Monday, according to spokeswoman Leslie Taylor.
The unit, which has 52 beds, sets aside several when operating at maximum capacity in case patients from other areas of the hospital need to be transferred to a higher level of care, Taylor explained. Of the 48 ICU patients at the hospital on Monday afternoon, Taylor said, 11 were being treated for covid-19. In total, the hospital has 29 covid-19 patients.
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Prisoners, who accounted for nearly one in seven Arkansas coronavirus cases on Monday, were hospitalized at a lower rate, according to Department of Corrections spokeswoman Cindy Murphy.
There were 29 state inmates being held at outside hospitals on Monday, Murphy said, with most coming from the East Arkansas and Ouachita River units that are currently experiencing large outbreaks.
In addition to prisoners being treated at outside hospitals, Murphy said, 11 prisoners are being treated for covid-19 at Ouachita River's Special Needs Unit, which serves as an in-house hospital for the department. An additional 19 prisoners with covid-19 are being housed in a special wing of the Ouachita River Unit if they "need some special medical treatment but it's not to the level where they have to go to an outside hospital."
Statewide, the number of covid-19 patients on ventilators reached 89 on Monday, an increase of seven from the previous day.
NO MASK MANDATE
Despite seeing the state's largest one-day increase in coronavirus cases over the weekend, Hutchinson on Monday continued to defend his decision not to order people to wear masks when they are out in public.
The governor's comments came several days after the chancellor of UAMS, Cam Patterson, called for a "uniform" policy on mask-wearing across the state during an appearance on PBS' Arkansas Week.
"It's really difficult to make the case to somebody in a town like Little Rock that they need to wear a mask if there's a town 30 miles away where masking is not required," Patterson said. "It creates a situation in which people don't know what to believe, and we really need a true north right now as to what is required."
On Monday, however, the governor said that municipalities can make their own decisions to mandate masks, adding that some of them have continued to see their cases rise.
"We all want to get to the objective of increasing mask usage out there," Hutchinson said. "One tool is let's do a mandate, and the other tool is let's concentrate on education and encouragement and with enforcement in the restaurants and other areas that those are required."
Smith, meanwhile, said the number of new cases that were linked to reopened businesses such as bars, restaurants and gyms remained "relatively small."
The governor also noted that the virus was spreading in a number of areas around the state. Nine different counties -- Pulaski, Washington, Sebastian, Pope, Benton, Mississippi, Crittenden, Craighead and Jefferson -- reported increases of 20 or more cases Monday.